


A Collection of Demonbirds

by TaangyChocolate



Category: Teen Titans - All Media Types, Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (2017)
Genre: Batfamily, F/M, Fluff, Teen Titans - Freeform, arabic, but most of the fluff is them aged up, let them have the kisses they deserve, oneshots, they're like a year or two apart in JC so that's the gap i use
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2019-10-24 07:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 37
Words: 38,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17700260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaangyChocolate/pseuds/TaangyChocolate
Summary: All my DamiRae writing from tumblr. They're all cheesy and fluffy and shamelessly self indulgent





	1. Midnight Surprises

She had been waiting in his room when he came back from patrol. Perched in a nest of his pillows the half demon was reading a book, two mugs of still steaming tea resting on his desk. Damian watched as she closed the pages and met his eyes, a pink blush coming over her face as he narrowed his eyes, half curious and half suspicious, and raised one dark brow. 

Without a word she stood and walked up to him until their bodies were flush against each other. Slowly, her hands came up and unclasped his cape, letting the material fall to the floor. His mask was the next to go, the sticky adhesive easily peeling off his face. Gloved hands came up and stopped her hands from removing his utility belt. 

Blushing, Raven leaned up for a kiss. As their lips brushed together he forced himself to draw back an inch, “Raven...what’s all this about?” 

Her fingers fluttered nervously as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Shyly, she closed her eyes and pressed a quick peck up onto his lips. Hesitantly, she pulled back and met his stare, “أنا سعيد لأنك عدت.” Damian’s eyes widened at the words and Raven smiled timidly, tightening her embrace just a bit. _I’m glad that you’re back._

He leaned forward until their foreheads rested together, feeling the indent of her gem on his skin. His gaze was soft and the corners of his lips tilted up as he kissed her. Raven found herself snugly wrapped in his warmth as his lips trailed up to her temple. 

When he spoke, his voice was low, teasing and flirty as he breathed against her skin, “إذن، أنت تتحدث العربية الآن؟ “ _So, you're speaking Arabic now?_

Raven felt her cheeks flush as his malachite eyes lazily observed her face, taking in her features. She worried her lower lip between her teeth as she hastily translated his words in her mind. 

“...أردت أن” she hesitated, trying to remember the word, “لمفاجأة لك.” _I wanted to…to surprise you._

Damian chuckled at her, “حسنا، تنظر لي بالدهش". At her confused glance he pressed a kiss to her lips, “أنا أحب هذه المفاجأة.” _Well consider me surprised. I like this surprise._

He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck, “حتى متى؟” _How long?_

Raven blushed at the feel of his lips on her skin, mumbling out, “.ثلاثة أشهر” _Three months._

A noise escaped him, deep and smooth in his throat. His hands fell to her hips, his fingers fanning along her skin. Her bright eyes fluttered shut as he peppered open mouthed kisses up her neck, moving from her collar to her jaw to her lips. 

She wrapped her arms around his neck, tenderly running a hand through his hair. It was soft and smelled of hair gel and his cologne. Raven wanted to breath in deep but she couldn't, caught up in the wonderful flurry of his kisses. 

Pale fingers snapped the utility belt off his waist as he began to push at her, walking her towards the bed without breaking their kiss. 

She squeaked as his hands gripped her thighs, lifting her up and depositing her onto the comforter. She allowed herself a moment to get comfortable among the pillows, casually watching as Damian removed his uniform. 

Once clad in his undergarments, he crawled on top of her. He pressed his forehead to hers, smiling at the flush on her cheeks. His hands had mussed up her hair earlier and he now rubbed small circles behind her ears. She hummed low in her throat as her fingers languidly traced the edge of his lips, her thumb sliding against his dimple. 

He kissed her fingertips and she leaned against his palms, gazing at him with half lidded eyes.

“أنت تبدو جيدا أحب، “ he murmured. _You look well-loved._

The skin of her forehead wrinkled as she tried to understand. He chuckled and pecked at the corner of her mouth, “جميلة.” _Beautiful._

Raven blushed at that, fluttering her lashes at him, “احبك عزيزتي.” _I love you, darling._

He grinned again, his dimple deepening even more, “أنا أحبك، الحبيب.” _I love you, beloved._


	2. It's Cold Inside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Day 1 of DamiRae Week 2018: Sharing a Bed_

Raven let out a little groan as Titus burrowed against her side. She squeaked and quickly rolled away as the cold tip of his nose pressed against the bare expanse of her stomach. With a muffled huff, she raised herself up on her forearms, shooting the puppy a look from the side. Titus paid her no mind, instead stretching out in the warm spot that she left behind. 

The goth hugged herself, unable to suppress her shivers. A curse escaped her lips and her eyebrows furrowed as she saw her breath. Why was her room so cold? She surrounded Titus with the lower quilts and wrapped her robe then the comforter around her shoulders. Sliding into her slippers, she padded to the window, checking that it was shut. Then she went to the door’s bottom, the vents, and even the cracks in between the wooden boards. 

There didn't _seem_ to be a draft, but the room was too cold to sleep in. Pouting, she sighed into the air, noticing through the fog that Titus was starting to shiver despite the mass of blankets. She glided towards the bed, making certain that her slippers stayed on, and freed him from the covers. Picking up Titus, she cradled the puppy in her arms and teleported out of her room, the quilts on her bed following right on her heels. 

On the floor above Damian laid in bed, staring at his ceiling with a frown. He was used to the cold but his body felt too hot but the room was _just_ chilly enough that only sheets were too light. Curling his fingers into the blankets, he closed his tired eyes, trying to will himself to fall asleep. 

He remembered watching how Raven meditated and tried to replicate her breathing; breathe in for ten seconds, hold for ten seconds, let out the breath in ten seconds. Rinse and repeat. The hero got four breaths in when a knock sounded on his door. He grunted, slipping out from under his covers and walking to the door. The metal slid open and he blinked at the sight of Raven in her pajamas, holding Titus and controlling a levitating a pile of blanks behind her. 

She bit her lip as he stared, hiding some of her face behind her hair. She shifted her weight and adjusted Titus in her arms, “Can we spend the night here?” 

He felt his brows jump up but couldn’t find his voice. Titus squirmed to look at him and barked as he noticed the free bed. Raven placed him on the ground and he bounded into Damian’s room, rolling around the covers as if he owned the place. He considered shutting the door in her face.

Damian moved his gaze from Raven to Titus and back again before he sighed, a blush threatening to take over his features. He rolled his eyes but moved out of the doorway and she hastily flew in, sighing happily as the warm air hit her cheeks. 

The glowing pile of blankets were dropped on top of his comforter and Titus yipped as he wiggled his way out. Raven shed her robe and slippers, eagerly ducking into the warmth of Damian’s bed. She sighed as Titus nuzzled against her, enjoying the excess warmth. But someone was missing.

She raised herself up and stared at her teammate expectantly. Damian seemed to be considering his options, but a hopeful tail wag and a well-timed, completely unpracticed double dose of puppy dog eyes made his resolve buckle. 

He shut the door and slid in next to her, feeling stiff and awkward as the goth curled up against him. TItus clambered out from in between their bodies and nestled against her other side. She breathed comfortably and he could see and feel as her body warmed up, the tip of her nose and her cheeks becoming rosy. 

She pouted as he kicked her cold feet away from his leg but smiled and buried her face in his chest as he held her, his palms rubbing up and down her arms. Raven let out a small hum as she was squished in between him and the curled up form of Titus, but she huddled closer when Damian tried to pull away. 

Conceding that the two were going to stay the rest of the night, the boy moved onto his back and spread out the blankets. He shifted until he was against the edge, trying and failing to get the mage to stay on her side. 

He sighed and forced his muscles to relax, feeling as Raven’s body fit against his, her arm resting above his stomach and her hands perched around his waist. A tan hand came to wrap around her shoulders while its twin was tucked under his head. In the silence of the dark he tried to steady his breathing. 

Pacing himself to the odd combination of Raven’s breathing, the thumps of Titus’ tail, and the too-quick beat of his own heart, he shut his eyes and willed himself to sleep.

Damian woke up to pressure on his torso. Emerald eyes snapped open and he tried to move but couldn’t. He felt as Raven’s nose pressed into the crook of his neck and her arms wrapped around him. 

His brows furrowed and he felt as the mage shifted until she was lying completely on top of him. Her lashes tickled his collar as her eyes fluttered open. She hid her yawn against his arm, mumbling, “Stop movin’ ‘round so much bird boy…”

His hands came up to her side and he tried to shove her off, but she steadied herself with her knees. Groggily, she lifted up and rested her forehead against his jaw, “Titus is there.” His grassy eyes flicked to the pup. 

Somehow, despite his small size, Titus had managed to spread diagonally across over two thirds of the bed. His back paw was a few inches from their hips and his ears were falling off the opposite edge of the bed. 

Damian couldn’t contain his snort as he tried to push her off again, muttering against her ear, “Just move him over, then.” Raven’s hand lazily fluttered against his shoulder in what he surmised was a half-asleep smack. She tiredly admonished, “We have to let the baby sleep, Damian. It’s rude to wake him.” 

He blinked at her answer, incredulous. His gaze shot to Titus as his tail began to lightly thump and his paws twitched. Great Danes apparently dreamt of food, if the dog’s tongue flopping out meant anything. 

His lips curled up just a bit; he wouldn’t admit it out loud, but Titus did look cute. Plus, Raven was comfortable enough…

The young teen gave in, blaming his recent decision making on the cold weather and lack of sleep. He sighed and wrapped his arms around her, pursing his lips as she hummed happily. His inky hair splayed out as he sunk into the pillow, adjusting to Raven’s presence easier than he expected to. 

Something in their embrace made the edges of his stomach flutter and the middle of his chest feel light. He ignored the sensations, instead tilting his head so Raven could tuck her nose against the crevice where his shoulder met his neck. The facets of her ruby would surely leave a mark against his jaw but he paid that thought no mind. 

Titus twitched again, a lazy whine that sounded too big for his body escaping him. Languidly, Damian began to trace soft, mindless patterns into the small of her back, too tired to keep his eyes open. She wriggled against his ministrations but didn’t bother moving, content in their warmth. The two teens felt themselves slipping away into slumber as the whir of the heating filled the room.


	3. Monitor Duty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Day 4 of DamiRae Week 2018: Confessions_

Damian sat on the couch, trying to starve off the dull throb growing behind his eyes. The glow from the monitors contrasted heavily against the dark of midnight but he stayed vigilant, waiting to see if any criminals were stupid enough to go out during a lightning storm. 

The room lit up in light for a second and the walls rattled at the _boom!_ that followed. Damian turned to look at the door half a second before it slid open and Titus bounded in, his tongue lapping out the side of his mouth. The dog skidded to a stop in front of him and the once-assassin bit back a smile, peeling his mask off his face and scratching the puppy behind its floppy ears. 

He heard as Raven chuckled, the long ends of her pajama pants rustling against the door as she entered, “You boys look like you’re having fun.” He snorted at that, not bothering to look at her as she settled down next to him, sleepily sinking into the cushions. 

Raven squirmed against the couch’s hard back for a moment then moved to rest her head on his shoulder, her cheek warm against his arm. Damian stiffened at the contact, a blush making the tops of his ears and his nose turn red. Titus clambered up onto his lap and rested his head against her thigh, closing his eyes and wagging his tail as she scratched behind his ears. 

Another flash and roll of thunder made Titus whimper as his ears drooped. Damian moved to take off his gloves, the movement forcing the goth to move from her spot with a pout, before he started to pet the length of Titus’ back. Raven settled back against him with a low hum. Emerald eyes flicked between Raven’s hand, now comfortably tucked in the crook of his arm, and the monitors, but there was no activity anywhere.

A shadow flittered past a camera and he tensed, the movement startling Raven and Titus from their drowsy states. He softly picked Titus up and untangled himself from the mage, going over to the keyboard and checking the area. Damian heard as Raven approached and Titus stretched out on the cushions, but paid them no mind as he zoomed near the back of a building. 

Indigo hair filled his peripheral as Raven bent over, quickly pulling up the CCTV footage of nearby banks and museums. Her head tilted and she fought back a chuckle at the sight of nearly twenty birds haphazardly fluttering about, trying to find somewhere to roost in the soaking rainfall. 

Damian frowned at them, feeling a bit disappointed. He made the camera look around the area and set his jaw, mumbling out, “Just some ravens.”

Raven squinted her eyes at the monitor, “Actually, those are crows.” She turned away from the bright screen, tugging at Damian’s elbow to remind him to sit down. Titus lazily blinked as the girl picked him up and held him in her lap, her fingers running over his belly. Damian flicked his gaze between the two and the monitors for a moment then rubbed at his eyes, plopping down next to his teammate. 

She wasted no time in curling up against him again. The young Robin hesitated for a moment when he felt her shake from the cold then wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He felt his face start to heat up and felt his heart rate start to beat just a smidge faster than normal at their closeness and bit his lip, trying to think of something to say in the quiet. 

“How do you know the difference?” Raven’s breathing had slowed and he didn’t know if she was still awake. He stilled as she shifted against him, her nose pressing against his collar. Her voice was low as she hummed out, “The difference between what?” 

“Between ravens and crows.” Green eyes flicked to the monitors and then back to the top of her head. He scratched Titus with his free hand, swallowed nervously, and leaned his head against hers. 

The goth let out a little sound at the move and snuggled closer. He kept his eyes on the monitors as she licked her lips, explaining, “Ravens are bigger than crows and their tails are more wedge shaped.” Her fingertips languidly slid along his side and it took all of his training to not jump, “Besides, crows travel in big crowds while ravens stick in small groups or just a pair.” 

He felt his brow raise at her answer and he bit back a smirk, “You sound like a zoo guide.” 

“Shh.” He could tell that she was blushing despite her light laughter. She lazily nuzzled his head and breathed out, “When I lived with my aunt Alice, there was a crow that always followed me around when I went to the library.” She snickered a bit, “We both thought it was a raven and she called us twins. Then this old guy saw me feeding it one day and he told me that crows were overrunning the park and to stop.”

Her thumb rubbed soft circles near his ribs and she sleepily laughed some more, adding, “Right before I joined the Titans I spent a month learning how to tell them apart.”

Damian hummed low in his throat, “That’s quite a story.” 

Raven snorted at that, nudging against his stomach, “Tell me something.” 

He moved his head a bit, feeling the press of her ruby against his chin. He stayed quiet and she nudged him again. “C’mon, Bird Boy. Confession time.” 

A half-laugh bubbled in his chest, “Oh? I didn’t realize we were doing ‘confession time?’”

The mage nodded, the movement making him shift and Titus roll over onto his side as he licked at the back of her hand. Raven stretched her legs out in front of herself, crooning, “I confessed about crows, you confess about something now.” 

The son of Batman pursed his lips for a moment, “I thought Titus’ ears were too floppy when you first gave him to me.” 

The ears in question raised at the sound of his name and Raven let out a mock-gasp, showering Titus in scratches and soft pets along his stomach. She buried her face in the crook of Damian’s neck, mumbling against his cape, “That’s sacrilegious, you know.” 

He shrugged, his fingertips brushing hers as they pet Titus. “I didn’t realize that so many breeds have floppy ears. We didn’t keep animals, let alone dogs, at the League of Assassins.” He thought a moment, “Besides, the only other pet I’ve had is Bat-Cow.” 

Raven hummed, considering his answer. She leaned her head up and nudged his chin with her temple, “Confession time.”

“Again?”

“I don’t actually like birds.”

Damian made a face at that but stayed quiet, holding back his reaction. The two sat in silence for all of half a minute before they broke, filling the room with lazy giggles. 

“Birds are nice, they’re just too smart and too small. It makes me feel like they’re planning to take over the world. Beekeeping weirds me out for the same reasons.” She sighed comfortably as she settled down against him, “I prefer dogs, to be honest. They’re usually one or the other.”

Damian turned to look at her but was rebuked as she huddled even closer, keeping near his warmth. “Titus is both small and smart.” 

“Well yes, but Titus is still a puppy. He’ll grow. Besides, some birds can mimic other species _and_ are smaller full grown than Titus is now.” She lightly shook her head, hiding her smile behind her hair, “Birds are too powerful to be kept around, Damian. First they steal your heart, then your snacks, then next thing you know, they’ve taken your agency and you’re a puppet in the sunflower seed industry.” 

He laughed at that and she closed her eyes, enjoying the sound, rare as it was. Damian felt his eyes drawn to the monitors again, watching as lightning struck a rooftop, before speaking into the air, “Confession time.” 

Raven perked up, her fingers trailing near the middle of his back, “Yeah?”

“I absolutely _despise_ cereal mascots.” 

She hid her smile against his shoulder, “Oh my goodness.”

He didn’t try to hide his sneer, “They’re _cultish_ , Raven. They’re worse than keeping birds as pets since you eat them.” 

The goth couldn’t hold her giggles back, “You don’t _eat_ the mascots, D.”

He sniffed indignantly, “Doesn’t matter. They’re sinister. First, they lure you in and force you to accept them in your life since birth with their bright colors,” She bit her lip as her chuckles threatened to bubble over. “Then they make adults complacent that their young children have become addicted to the massive amount of sugar in their fake portion sizes,” Titus huffed as her shaking woke him up, “Then they make their cereal mobile, so that friendships are forged solely because a talking tiger said so!” 

Her head fell back as she laughed, wrapping her hand around his arm. Her voice was incredulous as she continued to fail to keep a straight face, “Damian…” Her giggles were consuming her but he cut her off, “Think about it, Raven. How many people have bonded over those stupid squares destroying the roof of their mouth? How many intergenerational friendships are made because of honey clusters? How many fake irish people get together since they’re dressed like a leprechaun?” 

Raven let go of his arm to hug his side, her cheeks starting to cramp up at how _serious_ he was taking this. “Do you think cereal mascots are worse than pet birds? Mascots seem more malevolent if anything.” 

He shook his head, moving to accommodate her as she rested her head on him again, “Birds, and bees to a lesser extent, are sneaky. If you’re right and they plan to make us puppets, then they’re doing so to aid their own species. Cereal mascots are _animated_. They are made for the sole purpose of destroying a portion of their creator’s own species.” 

“So birds are opportunistic and mascots are exterminators?” 

He nodded soundly, “Absolutely.” 

Raven buried her face in his neck, attempting to will herself back to stoicism but finding that she couldn’t. She kept the smile on her face as she propped her chin on the end of his shoulder, “Confession time again.”

He turned his head and met her gaze. Raven felt some satisfaction at the hint of a blush reddening his nose and the tops of his ears. “After all that, tell me something positive. What do you _like_ , Damian?”

The teen kept his face clear as he immediately countered, “What do _you_ like, Raven?”

A brow raised as her sapphire eyes gleamed at him, “I asked first.”

“And I asked second so I’ll answer second.”

She snorted and cuddled up against his side again, mindful of Titus as the dog drifted off to sleep again. The pup snored twice before she answered, “I like watching people dance.” 

Damian felt his heart jump a tinge out of beat, “Don’t you know how to dance?” 

“Not those fancy ballroom dances.” She yawned, closing her eyes and breathing in deeply, “I prefer the old style of them, you know with the poofy dresses and stuffy suits and chandeliers? Especially how they are in Baroque paintings.” She nuzzled against his collar, “People don’t really do common balls like that anymore. Always wanted to learn, though.” 

He swallowed nervously, thinking of his lessons and the galas he had attended once he moved into Wayne Manor. Withholding that information, he wrapped his arm around her again, feeling as she sunk down further into the cushions. He focused on petting Titus and watching the monitors, trying to ignore how _warm_ she was. 

She yawned again, feeling the tiredness steep into her limbs after their conversation and her laughter. Damian’s warmth and Titus’ softness helped. Too lazy to keep her eyes open, she muttered into the air, “I really like you.”

Damian froze at that, his grassy eyes staring at the top of her head. He cleared his throat, not trusting his voice, “You do?”

“Uh huh,” She nodded, not opening her eyes. A small smile bloomed on her face, “You make being a Titan worth it.” His eyes widened and he flushed, but she didn’t notice. She only burrowed further into him, confessing, “Don’t tell Kori, but you’re my best friend here.” 

The muscles in his jaw rolled and Damian found himself not knowing what to say. He merely laid his cheek against her head again. She took that as an answer and continued, her voice slurring even more as she straddled the line of consciousness, “You’re pretty comfortable, Bird Boy… Promise we’ll do this again sometime?”

Damian nodded and stayed quiet as she slipped into sleep, her breathing soft and steady. He sucked in a slow breath, closing his eyes against the harshness of the monitors. Then he took another breath. Then another. Over and over again her words replayed in his head. 

Raven shifted and he looked at her. His eyes flicked from her to Titus and back again. Titus let out a snore and he made up his mind. 

He pressed his lips to her hairline, “Confession time.” His arm pulled her even closer and she cooed in her sleep. “I really like you too.”


	4. Guess What's in the Mail?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Day 5 of DamiRae Week 2018: Future AU_

Damian put down his book as his wife fluttered in, messy in her dirt-covered skirt and flowing shawl wrapped loosely over her shoulders. Her hair was pulled up in a bun at the base of her neck, the newly greying strands bouncing with each step. Her sapphire eyes were shining in excitement as she approached, an old brown paper envelope and a small box in her grasp. 

He opened his arms and she slid in between them, brushing their noses together as her wrists rested behind his neck. “Guess what we got in the mail…” She watched as his malachite eyes shut closed and stuck her tongue out when his shoulders shook in amusement. “Come on, darling. You have to guess!” 

“Hmm…” His calloused fingertips slid along her hips and trailed up to her stomach, feeling the stretched scars that graced her skin. He tilted his head down and pressed their foreheads together, “We got a letter and a box of something?”

Her thumb came up to press against the dimple next to his mouth, softly rubbing against the line embedded in his skin. “It’s a brown paper envelope, Damian.” She bit her lip, failing to bite back her girlish giggles, “And a box of wheat seeds!” 

The retired hero pulled his wife even closer, a slow grin creeping over his features at the significance. Still, he decided to mess with her, mumbling against her hairline, “Hmmm… they sound important.” She hummed back at him, “They are, my love. Do you realize how amazing wheat seeds are?” He chuckled, “Now I know how Father and Selina felt when you took up gardening.” 

“Baking is an important industry, _Mr. Wayne_.” She turned around in his arms and cheekily grinned at him. He grinned as her fingertips came up to trace his wrinkles, his thin lips curling up in thought, “Well, _Mrs. Wayne_ , I think I know this recipe…”

Raven sang out, “A field of wheat...” 

His low voice drawled, “A field with some water…”

She looked up, fluttering her lashes, “And some sweet sugar…”

His hands spun her around, leading her in a lazy dance on top of the tile. They hummed out together, their voices out of tune and scratchy but full of love, “That’s how you put a bun in the oven…” 

They swayed around the kitchen, feeling like teenagers again as she led him to the counter. Her fingers glowed and water flowed into the kettle. He sweetly pecked her lips as two tea bags, one Earl Grey and one Peppermint, floated into two levitating mugs. Damian spun her again, wrapping his arms around her stomach and interlocking his fingers. 

The air was quiet as the bubbles began to roll and she poured the steaming water into the worn ceramic. Her hands measured the sugar and honey smoothly, her muscles accustomed from years of practiced movements. Years that led to this moment, with Damian holding her and a pack of wheat seeds on the table.

Another giggle escaped her lips, “We’re going to be _grandparents_.” She wriggled happily in his arms, tittering as his lips kissed the back of her head. They swayed as she prepared their tea, both grinning like idiots at the news. 

Damian rested his chin on her head, closing his eyes as he breathed in her scent. Cinnamon and sage, mixed with the mothballs of her shawl, the clinging steam of her tea, the freshness of the soil from their garden. 

She smelled like a grandma.

The thought sent a wonderful flutter around his heart. He first thought of more years of diapers and first experiences and back-to-school-nights and picture days. 

Then he thought of the holidays and what they would bring. 

He chuckled, pulling one of her hands up and kissing the well-worn silver band that rested on her finger, “We’re going to spoil them rotten, aren’t we?”

Raven laughed at that, leaning back against his sternum as some tea splashed over the edge of the cup. She turned and pressed her lips against his cheek, chuckling in mirth, “Of course we are. There’s no debate about that.”


	5. I Can't Help It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _The way you said “I Love You" prompt 23: Through a Song_

They had somehow gotten roped into babysitting duty. Now, Raven would never refer to it as something she was “roped into.” No, the mage had absolutely fallen for Tommy’s chubby cheeks and squeaky babbles. But, try as he might to keep his fondness off his face, Damian had to admit that the baby _did_ have the power to tug at his heartstrings. He would never admit it out loud, it seemed like Grayson and Gordon did _something_ right in terms of cuteness, if Tommy’s bright blue eyes and freckled limbs meant anything. 

The son of Batman sighed as he set about fixing their tea. To his side, Tommy’s bottle was soaking in a bowl of warm water. Glancing at the timer, Damian quickly placed the teabags into the cups -- Earl Grey for him, Peppermint for her -- and placed everything on a tray. His nose wrinkled as he fought back the need to snort at the messy stick figures carved near the handle; Grayson’s work, no doubt. 

He heard his nephew start to fuss and Raven’s quiet hums quickly followed. The swordsman made his way back to the baby’s room only to stop in the doorway when he heard singing. 

“Wise… men… say,” Her voice was slow and languid in the dark of the room. Damian watched, transfixed, as Raven swung in soft circles, leisurely dancing with Tommy propped up in her arms. His tiny fingers were bunched on the fabric covering her biceps; they softly clenched and unclenched as the half-demon ran her fingers through his wispy hair. 

Something odd fluttered in Damian’s chest at the sight of the two. She hadn’t noticed his arrival yet and continued to sing, “Only fools...rush...in,” They looked like they belonged together, as if they were a scene plucked out of some Romantic painting. Tommy, in his pajama onesie, seemed content enough but Raven…

She looked _maternal_. 

Damian leaned against the door, the creak drawing her violet eyes to him, and he smiled at her. Her eyes were half lidded as she sung, “But I… can’t help… falling in love… with you…” Tommy softly cooed out and she bounced him as Damian handed her the bottle, crooning out, “Shall… I… stay?”

Raven paused and pressed a kiss to Tommy’s forehead, relief flooding her when he seemed to be calming down, “Would it be… a… sin?” She felt a surge of fondness and held Tommy a little closer, incredibly cognizant of and urged on by Damian’s presence. 

The smell of tea was filling the room. She forced her amethyst eyes away from the baby and landed on Damian. Some unknown emotion was hovering around him, just out of reach. He looked at her, his expression unreadable sans the slight blush that burned his ears and dusted his cheeks. 

Their eyes met and Raven felt the words slip off her tongue as she sang to him, “If I… can’t help… falling in love... with… you?”


	6. Valentine Kisses

I: 

She was staring at him. Her dark eyes were narrowed and her chin was cradled in one hand, deep in concentration, but her gaze never left him. He couldn’t even imagine that she was taking some new inane approach to meditation; there was no chanting, no glow from her powers. Damian bit back a sigh and settled on ignoring her, putting most of his attention on documenting everything from his past patrol in his journal. 

Raven continued to stare with her brows furrowed, and as her hand shifted on the table something in her fist crinkled. His ear twitched; he couldn’t ignore _that_. The skin on the back of his neck tickled under her gaze and he abruptly closed the journal, twisting around to stare back at her. 

A small smile -- it was teasing, foreign on her lips. He was wary -- slid over her face and she curled her finger, motioning for him to join her at the table. 

He rolled his eyes but did as she wanted, settling down on a chair next to her. The mage broke her gaze to grab his hand, deftly pulling off his glove. Damian watched her movements. A part of him wanted to pull away at the softness of her hands against him, but he stayed still. The bands of her rings were cold on his skin and his eyes flicked to her face when she bit her lip. 

Raven suddenly looked nervous as she placed something in his palm, quickly curling his fingers into a fist and covering his hand with both of hers. She looked into his face and grinned softly, a blush overcoming her cheeks. Her hands squeezed his once and then she removed them. 

The goth nervously twiddled with one of her rings -- the oval onyx matching her fingernails -- and hastily stood. A flicker of uncertainty flashed over her face and slipped away as she leaned down, her lips pressing against his hairline. Damian suppressed a jump at the contact and could only stare, dumbfounded, as she straightened up and vanished from sight, her cheeks burning. 

He looked down at his hand and opened his fist, his own blush spreading from his ears to his cheeks at the candy that rested there. Damian rolled his eyes but couldn’t stop the small curl of his lips as he unwrapped the heart-studded foil and popped the piece of chocolate in his mouth.

His brows furrowed at the letters pressed against the inside of the wrapping and he brought it closer up to his face to read her message. An incredulous snort snuck its way out of him as he read her neat, flowery handwriting: “Damian, you are absolutely _dovely_.”

Biting his lips to keep himself from smirking, his green eyes rolled again, what a _dork_. 

II: 

“Hey there, Damian.” 

He could hear the smile in her voice, but he couldn’t bare to look away from the monitors, even if nothing of importance was happening. After the morning’s debacle he didn’t dare trust his voice around her. Hell, he couldn’t even trust his face, given how his cheeks were already starting to burn by her mere presence (and she hadn’t even said more than three words!). 

Raven leaned against the counter, feeling a wide smile slide onto her lips at the sight of his ears turning pink. She couldn’t help herself, Damian was so comfortable to be around that sometimes she couldn’t even pretend to be stoic. Languidly, she nudged his shoulder, sliding her hand down to rest on his bicep, “Bird boy, I know that monitor duty waits for no one, but can I _sparrow_ moment?” 

Oh, Azar. Raven already knew how cute he looked when he was flustered, but goodness, she had to fight the need to swoon at how attractive the swordsman was when he bit back a laugh. Still, a burst of air and what would have been a chuckle escaped him. That was good enough for her. 

The goth leaned her chin on the end of his shoulder, observing him in silence. He didn’t spare her a glance, even though his skin blushed darker. But she couldn’t help noticing that he made no move to push her away. Her hands wrapped around his elbow and she spoke into the air, “Did you like the chocolate?” 

“And that horrible pun?” His voice was as confident and steady as usual, but his true emotions -- sweet like licorice, hesitant, hopeful -- pressed against her emphatic shield and she felt her stomach flutter. Damian shook his head, drawing her gaze up to his perfect hair, slightly ruffled and smelling of hair gel, before he shot a quick glance at her face, “They were adequate.” 

“Just adequate? Not even seasonally appropriate?” 

The pout in her voice made him turn. Her amethyst irises were shining and her lips were curled in anticipation as the date clicked in his mind. Damian raised a brow, “It’s the _thirteenth_ of February, Raven.”

“Well, yeah,” She rolled her eyes, as if he was missing something obvious. Incredulous, he settled on pressing the issue, cutting her off before she could explain, “Are your rings cutting off circulation? Valentine’s Day isn’t until _tomorrow_.” 

“Damian,” The mage’s voice was patient, as if she expected him not to understand immediately, “When you plan on giving someone a valentine, you need to butter them up the day before.” Brows furrowing, he narrowed his eyes at her. Then the memory of the chocolate’s heart-studded foil hit him and his eyes widened the tiniest amount while Raven’s smile morphed into a grin. 

Her inky hair brushed his arm as she pressed her lips to his shoulder, her lashes fluttering shut. Damian felt the warmth of her through his uniform and found that he couldn’t find his voice. They stared at each other, breathless as Raven slowly removed her lips from his person, shooting him a coy smile. 

A car, decorated with a gun waving out of the window, flashed past the monitors; it was followed closely by five police cars, their frantic sirens silent through the screen. Raven turned her chin to look at the image, cognizant that Damian kept his eyes on her. She flashed him another smile and stood, “Looks like duty calls, then.” 

She flew to the door, practically singing over her shoulder, “ _Owl_ see you later, bird boy!”

Damian leaned back in his chair, blinking incredulously behind his mask. One gloved hand came up and touched his shoulder, still warm from her kiss. The hero allowed himself a few more seconds to replay their odd conversation, then he registered the blinking alarm on the screen’s bottom. He shook off the cluster of his emotions, stood and sprinted to the door. 

There was a criminal to find, after all.

III: 

“That was really stupid.” 

Damian rolled his eyes, feeling the sting of the gash on his eyebrow, “I already got the rant from Kory,” His eyes flicked to Raven’s hands, focusing on their faint glow as her fingertips healed his split knuckles. He caught her look, “What? I know what I’m doing, Raven.”

“I know, I know,” A sanitary towel levitated out of the first aid kit and floated towards them, cloaked in her magic. She tore the wrapper off and leaned forward, softly pressing the thin material against his brow, “Sorry, it’s going to sting a little.” 

The battered hero shrugged, keeping his attention on her face. Her eyes trailed down to meet his and something in her softened. She sighed, the ends of her lips curling the tiniest bit, “I know that these injuries aren’t much, but you should still try to be more careful, bird boy.”

She picked at the shoulders of his cape with her free hand, “Besides, you’re _covered_ in blood.” 

He shrugged, flexing his newly healed fingers, “It’s not mine.” 

Raven clicked her tongue at that, and Damian felt an unfamiliar urge to make her smile. Without really thinking about it, he muttered, “At least all my cuts are clean...It would suck if you couldn’t tweet me.” 

He watched the shift of her hair as her jaw dropped and had to force himself to stay stoic as she pulled back to stare at him. The mage looked incredulous, her amethyst gaze searching his face to ensure that she heard correct. Raven bit her lip, “Damian,” she lowly crooned out his name; neither missed how he shivered at the sound, “You’re making bird puns now?” 

She confidently leaned in until their noses were no more than a few inches apart, “Or are you just _winging_ it?” The goth was uncharacteristically cheeky, practically vibrating at the possibility of Damian playing along.

Bracing his palms on the cot’s edge, the swordsman pushed himself up, feeling the tip of his nose brush against hers. He grinned at her surprised gasp, the apples of her cheeks flooding. “You seem to think that you’re the only one who can revert to low brow humor,” he mocked. 

Her lashes threatened to flutter shut at their proximity. Damian fought against his own nerves and breathed out, his voice lower, “But toucan play at that game.” 

Raven briefly lost her composure, a quiet giggle escaping. She straightened her back, hiding some of her face with her hair. She couldn’t meet his eyes, instead picking up his hand and running the pale pads of her fingers along his knuckles. She softly grabbed both ends of his left hand and looked at him from under her lashes. “You might’ve made me laugh this time, bird boy… But be warned,” She hummed out. The goth softly pulled his hand up, kissing the ridges of his knuckles, still warm from her healing. 

Damian’s intake of breath was sharp as her lips touched him (for the third time that day!) and Raven smiled as she released him, “Next time _I’ll_ make _you_ quack.” 

His brows furrowed, a groan nearly escaping at the realization of just how horrid her puns could be. She only grinned; with a puff of her powers and a soft chuckle she vanished. Shaking his head he stood and stretched his arms, finally feeling the newness of his body after her healing, but unable to ignore the fluttering in his stomach. 

IV: 

Raven casually hooked his elbow with hers as they walked along the sidewalk, watching as Titus pranced ahead, enthusiastic now that he was in the park. Damian glanced at her, allowing a small smile to form on his face. 

The goth chuckled as Titus skidded to a stop in front of her, his whole body wagging from the force of his tail. Bending down, she scratched behind his ears, quickly unclicking the clasp of his leash. The Great Dane bounded into the grass, yipping at the dew and trying to bite the gnats circling above him. 

Damian strolled up next to her, snorting as he stuffed his hands in the pocket of his hoodie. His emerald eyes looked her over as she straightened up, her hair a bit ruffled. She met his gaze and he shot her a look, “You do realize it’ll be at least an hour until he’s ready to go without whining, right?” 

She chuckled, smoothly sliding over and hooking her arm in his rather than answering. The pair walked a few paces behind Titus, keeping an observant eye on their surroundings. The puppy had developed a bad habit of approaching strangers to look for snacks, and neither hero felt like socializing with randoms in the park at night. 

Her head tilted up to stare at the clouds and he watched her. A thin raindrop hit her nose and she twitched, muttering out, “We gotta get him in before it really starts raining.” The mage had a sleepy fondness on her face as she lowered her head and stared at Titus, who was now rolling around in a patch of dandelions. Damian snickered at the sight, adding, “He already needs a bath, a little water won’t do anything.” 

The girl shot him a look, one thin brow arching up. A small chuckle escaped her, “If it starts raining Titus’ll make sure to get as muddy as possible, bird boy.” She leaned her shoulder against his, the lazy smile on her face widening, “And it’ll be a real _birden_ to get him clean.” 

His olive eyes moved to meet hers, “That was ghastly,” he deadpanned.

She hummed, the noise light in her throat. Her lips pursed and she whistled, making Titus’s ears perk up. Waving the dog over, she joked, “At least it wasn’t too _fowl_.”

The half-demon ignored his bewildered sigh, smiling as Titus bounded over to her. He jumped up into her thighs, his dark fur slick and his paws muddy. Damian clicked his tongue as a surge of her power shielded her jeans from any grime. Bending down, the swordsman redid the clasp on Titus’ collar, raising a brow when Raven settled onto her knees next to him. Her fingers scratched the puppy’s ears and she giggled as Titus happily buried his head in the crook of Damian’s arms, her scratches moving to his back. 

The hero stood, fiddling with the leash’s handle as Raven pressed a quick kiss to Titus’s snout. The goth stretched as they walked back towards the tower, keeping her hands to herself as she took in the dark clouds again. 

Damian glanced at her, surprised. He opened his mouth to say something but hesitated, thought better of himself, and remained silent. She didn’t appear to notice, her attention on how marvelous the grass looked when rain started to fall. 

They had barely walked a block when Damian cleared his throat, sticking his elbow out a few inches. Raven glanced at his face for a moment, but when he said nothing she continued on, raising her face up to feel the raindrops on her cheeks. 

His elbow poked out even more, and his ears started to burn. 

She still didn’t appear to notice. 

They walked another block and, fed up, his arm jutted out, knocking into her ribs. She let out a little huff, looking down in confusion. Damian stared straight ahead but continued to watch, his skin flushing red, as understanding clicked in her mind, her furrowed brows loosening and jumping up her face. A jubilant curl came over her lips and she stepped closer. 

His shoulders relaxed as she hung onto him and he could feel her blush as she leaned against him while they walked. Another lazy sigh escaped her, “This has been a really nice night, Damian,” she commented. Her hair brushed over him as she briefly looked around for civilians before using her powers to shield them from the rain. 

Damian turned to stare at her, unable to keep the smile off his face. Despite her powers all three were a bit waterlogged; Titus didn’t seem to mind, at least. And he had to admit, she looked really cute with wet hair. The ex-assassin cleared his throat, “Actually,” he started, already feeling a swell of incredulity in his chest for what he was about to say, “I think this night has been more pheasant than anything, Raven.” 

He felt as she brought up one of her hands to cover her mouth in a failed attempt to contain her laugh. The goth buried her face in his neck, snickering. Something in his stomach dropped at the feel of her breath on his skin. It wasn’t unpleasant -- or unpheasant, since apparently she thought that low effort pun was _so_ funny -- but nervous butterflies twirled throughout his torso regardless.

Raven tilted her head and pressed a kiss to the side of his jaw, “That one was _really_ bad,” she whispered. She noticed how he froze, nearly stumbling at the surprise of her lips right below his ear, but didn’t comment on it. Instead she dragged him along, her own cheeks just as bright as his. 

They both focused on Titus until they reached the tower, hiding their smiles and their blush from the other.

V: 

Damian woke up the next morning to nothing but red and white. He blinked and quickly inhaled, his eyes adjusting to the light. Baffled, he sat up, taking in the sheer amount of roses that flooded his vision, all piled on top of his bed. 

He grabbed one that rested near his hips, his eyebrows jumping when he realized it wasn’t real. The crimson paper was delicately folded into a loose, barely blooming bud. Tan hands rubbed at his eye, noticing that the petals of the white roses were completely unfurled and the two colors were arranged in rows. Before he could examine them any further something scratched at his door. 

Groaning, Damian slid out of bed, bewildered when the bottom layer of roses didn’t move -- how had she had _glued_ them onto the blanket!? Better yet, how hadn’t he woken up!? -- and opened the door. A bark sounded near his knees and he looked down, biting back a snort. 

Titus sat in front of him, his tail thumping against the floor, two obnoxiously large red bows perched on the base of his ears. He held the thornless stem of a crimson rose in his mouth, and Damian could barely make out his name written on the back of the note, neatly tied with a bow. He plucked the string apart and opened the card. Inside, the black ink was still shiny, reading: “Hey bird boy, _hoot_ have thought that paper roses were so easy to make? Enjoy your first valentine of the day!”

It was entirely too early for this.

Damian softly pinched the skin between his eyes, considering whether or not the consequences outweighed confronting his teammate about how she snuck into his room. Titus pushed past his legs and jumped onto his bed, letting out a surprised yip at the roses against his paws. Emerald eyes watched as the puppy set about diving underneath the covers. 

Rolling his eyes, the hero let the dog be and made his way to Raven’s room. He knocked and not two seconds later the door slid open. She was waiting on the other side, clad in a tank top and pajama bottoms dotted with anatomically correct hearts. The goth raised a brow at him, a hint of a smile ghosting over her lips. 

A blush settled on her face; apparently, he wore a tight shirt -- one that clung to his frame _perfectly_ \-- to bed. Choosing to play it cool, she leaned against the door frame. She took in how wonderfully messy his hair was, using all her control to keep her eyes on his face. 

Damian watched her for a moment, then spoke in his commanding voice, “How did you get in my room?”

She blinked, feeling laughter bubble in her throat. Of course he would latch onto that and not the valentine’s present. “Did you not get my note? It should be pretty obvious, bird boy.” Raven pointed at his waist and a stray petal rose up, the paper surrounded by her magic. Amethyst eyes met his and she cocked a brow again, “Also, I can teleport. It’s convenient, you know?”

The petal levitated in front of his face and he grabbed it, shaking the paper for emphasis, “That still doesn’t explain how I didn’t wake up to a lovestruck goth _gluing_ paper roses to my bedsheets,” he countered.

“To be fair, I used a hot glue gun.” She smiled again, “Glue sticks are too messy and require too much force. It would’ve woken you.” 

He sighed and shook his head at that, holding back a grin, “Raven, I can handle you ruining my sheets. But you dragged Titus into this. You’ll truly regret that.”

“The only thing I’ll _greatly egret_ ,” she punctuated her words with a cheeky wink, “Is not being able to fit more bows on Titus.” Pale fingers tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, “He refused to put on this really cute doggy sweater I found. It had cupid wings and everything.” 

Damian crossed his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes at her. He finally recognized that she was holding _something_ behind her back. The goth noticed his change in focus and took a step back, both her hands now behind her. 

He took a step forward, “Just how many valentines do you plan to give me?” 

He ignored the shake of her head and turned his body, trying to see behind her. She twisted away, pouting and sticking out a leg to block him when he tried to maneuver around her. Damian grabbed her hips and pulled her against his chest, easily sliding his hands over her ribs and behind her back. Her face flushed red, but he didn't seem to notice.

Raven squeaked as his head tilted in confusion, his wrists touching the small of her back as he tried to visualize whatever fluffy item they now held. After a few beats, she cleared her throat, “Um, Damian?” 

“What is this?” He sounded so genuinely confused that the goth had to bite back her laugh, only to flush even harder when the movement pulled her attention back to their proximity. He was all but hugging her, trying to peek past the curtain of her hair. Rolling her eyes, she buried her head against his shoulder, “It’s your second valentine.” 

“It’s so… fluffy.” 

“Valentine gifts often are.”

“Is it a teddy bear?” Raven moved her head off his shoulder, snickering at how _disgusted_ he sounded at the thought. She shook her head, relaxing in his embrace as his hands tried to pry all of her fingers off his present. 

“It’s not a teddy bear, bird boy. Give me some credit, will you?” The goth pressed her nose against his temple, softly pecking his cheek. Damian took in a quick breath then paused and stiffened, finally realizing their position. He felt his cheeks warm up when Raven chuckled and leaned further into his chest, all but nuzzling against him. 

She rested her cheek on the top of his head, her fingers flexing against his, “Not that I’m not absolutely loving this, but can I have the present back? I still need to wrap it.” The swordsman hastily pulled back, stepping to a reasonable distance and crossing his arms. He blushed, avoiding her eyes, even as she pouted. Her shoulder leaned against the doorframe again, “Bird boy, I didn’t say to let go.” 

His green eyes met hers, noticing the glowing behind her back as she dropped the present down a portal. Damian narrowed his eyes at her grin, slightly balancing on his heels. The air was cold now that she wasn’t in his arms, but her smile was making up for it -- even if he wouldn’t admit it. 

“You don’t have to do all of this, you know,” he frowned, “You can just say that you’re attracted to me. No obsessive planning or anything else is necessary.”

The mage chuckled at that, stepping forward and grabbing his hands. Her fingers were already pale, but they looked ethereal against the tan of his own skin. “Damian,” her voice was soft, “I’m not doing this just for kicks. You know I’m not like that.” Her grin widened and she took another half-step closer. He bit his lip, looking up into her eyes.

Raven looked nervous and unsure of herself, “I _do_ like you, Damian. You could figure that out yourself. But I wanted,” She paused, taking a quick breath, “I wanted to make you feel special. I want to act romantic with you, even if it’s just dumb puns and paper roses.” Her eyes shyly met his as she squeezed his hands. He glanced down, noticing the small flickers of violet light crackling at her fingertips. 

Something in the sight warmed him; it was nice to know that she was nervous too. 

He felt a small smile stretch his lips, “You should be aware that I _am_ capable of being romantic too.” Her eyes searched his face as her brows jumped, “Of course you can. If you want to,” She looked bashful, “I don’t want to force you, or to make you to force anything.”

Damian shook his head at that, languidly pulling her wrists down to peck to the side of her mouth. She let out a squeak, her eyes widening as a fierce blush covered her skin. Her lips trembled, “Oh…” 

He smiled, drawing her attention from his eyes to his dimple and back again, “I never do things I don’t want to, Raven.” Their noses brushed as she pressed her forehead against his. Damian’s voice was low and steady, but in their closeness she could feel the frantic beat of his heart and the frenzied pulse of his emotions, “You just need to be patient. You’ll get your valentine very soon.” 

The swordsman pulled back and both let out shaky breaths, slightly stunned at the direction their conversation had gone. She let go of his hands and he turned to leave. She pouted at the sight, “Okay, D. You’re still getting your other valentines, but I can wait my _tern_.” 

His shoulders shook as he shot her a look, his face still red, “You do know that you can make me feel special without resorting to puns, correct?” 

Finding her bearing, Raven stood just a bit straighter, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “I’ll have you know that puns are always amazing, no matter how stupid.” She paused, a soft grin sliding onto her features, “Besides, I like seeing you laugh.” 

Giggling at how his eyes widened at that, she took a step back, her hand braced in the door frame. Her smile was contagious, Damian felt a smirk work its way onto his face as she playfully called out, “I won’t tell you _wren_ you’ll get your next valentine, but you should be on the roof before the sun sets, bird boy!” 

VI: 

Damian sat on the roof’s edge, lazily watching the sky. Sunset would start very soon. His mask laid on the cement next to him and he watched as birds flew down to the ground, some skimming the water as they avoided the harsh lights near the shoreline. Absentmindedly, he slid his gloves off and picked up his second valentine of the day. 

The plushie was fluffier than his tastes preferred, but it was an admittedly well done handmade likeness of batcow. His tan fingers squeezed the stuffed animal, a small grin sliding on his face at the protruding stitches that made up the bovine’s mask. His ear twitched and he felt the vibrations of Titus bounding up the stairs and turned, watching as the dog bounded through the open door. 

Raven sauntered through a moment later, her smile widening at the sight of Titus furiously trying to climb onto Damian’s chest. She chuckled as the dog lapped at his hands, “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt you two.” 

Her shoulders shook as she settled down next to the swordsman, grinning at the hyper wag of Titus’ tail. She scratched behind the puppy’s ears, cooing as Titus nuzzled her hand. The goth’s gaze moved to her teammate and she chuckled, “Hope I didn’t make things _hawkward_. I know you and Titus love your time alone together.” 

Damian rolled his eyes and poked a finger under her ribs, “Your puns somehow get even worse every time I see you.” He ignored her giggling and leaned back on his palms, overlooking the water. Her head leaned on his shoulder and she sighed, languidly pressing her nose into his neck. 

Taking a deep breath, Damian quickly pulled her valentine from the cover of his cape, abruptly depositing it in her grasp. Her breath caught as she softly lifted the present, a smile curling over her lips at the plushie. It was a stuffed swordfish, with brown eyes and a bouquet of chocolate roses neatly tied in between its fins. Raven blinked, her eyes shiny, and carefully hugged it to her chest. A happy laugh escaped her, “Damian… this is so cute!” The goth’s cheeks were pink and she aimed a wide grin towards the younger hero. 

He scratched at the back of his neck, blushing at the way she was looking at him. Clearing his throat, he tilted his head away from her, mumbling out, “Well, I just wanted to do something nice for you.” Titus yawned when Raven shifted over to lean against his shoulder, curling up under his cape. Her hands came up to rest in the crook of his elbow and he felt the words tumble out, “If what happened earlier wasn’t enough to figure out, but I like you too.” 

Her chin rested on his shoulder and he turned to look at her, their noses barely brushing. Raven’s voice was quiet, nearly a whisper, when she asked, “You’re serious?” The goth was just barely trembling at the sight of him so close and she bit her lip, watching as his eyes flicked down to watch.

Damian leaned in, his forehead resting against hers. She suppressed a jump when his fingers curled around the swordfish, his tan fingertips brushing her skin. “I’ll be honest Raven,” her head tilted until they were barely a breath apart, “I sword-a like you.” The half-demon let out a soft laugh and moved forward, pressing her lips to his. They were awkward at first, careful as their lips moved together for the first time. Her lips were plush against his and tasted of Earl Grey. A sound rumbled in the back of his throat and she swallowed the noise, grabbing onto his shoulders for balance. 

His fingers were slightly calloused and Raven sighed into his kiss when he cradled her face. One pale hand came up to run through his hair, pulling him even closer. She leaned into him and they nearly toppled off the edge until his hand laid on her hip, stabilizing them. Raven started to smile, letting out a breathless giggle as he released her lips. Still, they stayed as close to each other as they could. Her lashes fluttered open and met his gaze. 

She hummed low in her throat, savoring the memory of his lips on hers. Her fingers traced the edge of his face and all she could muster was a quiet, “Woah.”

Damian smirked at that, the movement drawing her attention back to his mouth. That dimple was on full display as he spoke, his voice low in the charged air between them, “Can I have another, valentine?” She nodded, breathless as he ran his thumb over her cheek and pulled her up, eagerly kissing her again.


	7. Gentle

“Can't sleep?” 

Jaime blearily blinked at Raven as he stumbled into the kitchen. The demoness was calmly leaning against the counter, drinking her tea. She motioned towards the half-eaten sleeve of Oreos on the counter and smiled at her teammate as he took one. 

Raven closed her eyes as she took another sip, the scent of chamomile filling her nose. She kept her eyes shut as Jaime wandered around the kitchen, his glass clattering and the pipes sighing as he turned on the tap. He scratched at his back -- she knew the scarab would get restless at this time of night -- and sat down across from her. 

He took another cookie, lazily tilting his head as the elevator let out a low _ding!_

Jaime languidly tilted his head in greeting as Damian walked in, finally back from patrol. Raven put down her mug, “Hey, Darling.” She smiled as her boyfriend sat next to her and stole a sip of her tea. She leaned up to peck the corner of his mouth, feeling his exhaustion and his happiness against her emphatic shield. 

Her hands came up and peeled the mask off his eyes, taking note of the scrapes on his skin and the rips in his uniform. Before she could bring her hand up to heal a nasty slice on his shoulder, Damian grabbed her hand and rested his cheek against her temple. Jaime raised a brow but stayed quiet, trying to bite back his laugh at how (dare he say) adorable Damian looked when he relaxed. 

Raven pressed a kiss to the side of his jaw, softly laughing as Damian sighed and buried his head in the crook of her neck. He slumped against her, one hand sliding down to rub circles on her hip. She affectionately wriggled under his weight, leaning to grab another cookie. 

Jaime felt a sly grin slide over his face at the scene. He finished his glass and met Raven’s blushing gaze, “He does this a lot, doesn’t he?” 

The goth let out a chuckle, nodding. A gasp and a pout followed as her boyfriend grabbed the treat out of her hand and flung it at Jaime, who laughed as he leaned to the side, barely avoiding the Oreo chucked at his head. 

Damian resisted the urge to glare, instead burrowing deeper against his girlfriend. “Not funny, Reyes,” he grumbled against her skin, loud enough for the others to hear. Still, he stretched to pick out another Oreo for his girlfriend.

Jaime laughed as he got up, refilling his glass. He leaned his hip against the sink, watching his friends cuddle. It was a bit weird; when they were still beating around the bush, _everyone_ assumed they would hate PDA, Damian especially. But now?

Raven nuzzled her nose against his hair and pressed a kiss to his hairline. Her pale fingers easily slid the gloves of his hands. From his spot at the sink he clearly saw as Damian rubbed his fingertips along her thigh. Jaime shook his head at them and loudly cleared his throat as he strolled back to his seat, grabbing another Oreo and handing one to Raven. 

Damian tugged at the inside of her elbow, pressing his nose to the side of her throat. He felt as she suppressed a jump and smiled, feeling heat start to rise in her face. The goth glanced at the clock -- _02:48 A.M._ \-- then tilted her head back at her Robin, “You ready to sleep, _Habibi_?” 

Damian pressed a kiss to her skin in response. At her squeak, he merely intertwined their fingers and started to lead her away, stuffing his mask into one of his many pockets. Raven let out a little breathy laugh at the eagerness that he emanated and squeezed his hand. She lifted a hand, using her powers to grab her mug. The goth met Jaime's sleepy, knowing gaze, “Goodnight Jaime. There's more water in the pot if you need it.” 

He nodded, slowly taking another sip of water as he waited for the weirdness of the night to recede. He heard as the elevator door opened and how Raven let out a girlish squeal. There was a soft _thud!_ as she smacked at his arm, giggling for him to wait. 

Jaime looked down into his glass and snickered. _What a couple of dorks._


	8. Kisses for Titus

Raven looked up as Damian entered the common room, hearing the thud of Titus’ feet on the floor as he bounded towards her. A smile slid onto her painted lips as she took in the numerous lipstick marks that still lay on the pup’s fur; amethyst wasn’t _really_ her preferred lipstick of choice, but it stood out so boldly on Titus’ inky coat that she couldn’t resist.

She scratched behind his ears and placed another peck to the tip of his snout, biting back a giggle as Titus’ whole body wagged from the force of his tail. Damian stepped next to her, clearing his throat as he looked down at them.

Raven tilted her head at the confused bundle of emotions that lightly bounced on her emphatic shield, turning her mauve gaze onto his face. After a beat his arms crossed over his chest and he looked away, the muscles of his jaw tensing a bit. While the goth kept her face blank she searched to name the feeling that wafted out from him. Her painted nails continued to scratch at Titus and she leaned back against the couch cushions, regarding her teammate and why he was so much more standoffish than usual. 

Damian avoided her gaze, instead crouching down to pet along the length of Titus’ back. Raven kept her stare on his face and nudged his shoulder with her own in question.

He picked at one of Titus’ ears and the lipstick that stained it, “Don’t cover him in makeup.”

The older teen sighed softly, scratching the cutest Titan under his chin, “Sorry. I’ll wash Titus later to get it all off.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, “Besides, he’s too cute not to kiss.”  
Damian let out a gruff _tsk_ at that, deciding not to respond.

Still, his emotions weighed heavily on his aura and she closed her eyes, feeling them wash over her. Rather than take his emotions as a whole she picked them apart one by one. There was a subdued amount anger, not aimed at anyone in particular nor as spread out as usual. How odd. Confusion and frustration were lurking just underneath, always arriving together. There was his constant affection for Titus as well as… jealousy?

She failed to keep the little hitch out of her breath as the feeling clicked in her mind, as clearly as the marks on Titus. _Damian Wayne_ was _jealous_. But jealous of what? Maybe even… of _who_?

Damian had never previously complained of Titus’ affection towards her; he rolled his eyes and grumbled whenever Titus slept in her bed and pushed his snout into her palms when he wanted snacks or pets or a combination of both, but the swordsman never was jealous when the Great Dane would go to her for affection.

No, he wasn't jealous of her.

It couldn’t be that he was jealous of _Titus_ , could it?

Indigo eyes opened and she took in the numerous lipstick marks on Titus again, replaying the look on his face when he first arrived. Impulsively, she slid her fingers down to the dog’s collar, her fingertips brushing Damian’s tan ones.

He jumped, the movement minute enough for her to barely notice, and nearly pulled his hand back. Her pale digits inched closer and hesitation stilled him. Her hair fluttered around her face as she turned her head up to look at him, gaze flicking from the reddening tips of his ears to his mouth as he gnawed on his bottom lip. 

Her free hand came up to rest on his shoulder. He jolted again, the skin around his nose reddening. After a pause Raven licked her lips, furrowed her brows, and pressed her lips to his cheek. She pulled back and took in his wide eyes and heat-filled face, hiding her smile behind her palm.

She stared at him for another beat, taking in her handiwork; the boysenberry imprint was bright and prominent against his blushing face. Satisfied at the flustered series of croaks and stutters that threatened to escape his lips, the goth turned back to Titus and kissed his forehead, grinning as she mumbled against his fur, “Looks like you have some competition for cutest Titan.”

Damian let out a flustered "Tt," his body frozen sans his fingertips brushing where her lips were.

Titus merely let out a yip, craning his head up for more kisses.


	9. Proposal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _What's an engagement ring compared to a dagger?_

Raven leaned her head on Kory’s shoulder, lazily observing the ring that adorned her hand. The white diamonds were bold against her tanned skin; its glittery shine nearly matched the glow of the alien’s bright eyes, both flickering in the dull light. The goth peered up at her friend, a smile stretching her lips, “It suits you.” 

Kory grinned back, pressing a kiss right above the gem on her forehead, “Thank you. Dick certainly has good taste.” 

The demoness glanced up teasingly, “In rings or in women?”

The princess laughed, the sound booming in the dusk air. She wiped at her eyes, “Yes.” 

Raven shook her head and took her hand rather than continue talking, studying the thin strand of tungsten that wrapped around her finger. Her pale fingers traced the edge of the band, eyes narrowing in thought. 

“Kory?”

At the older woman’s hum, Raven asked, “How well does this hold up with your powers?” She lifted their hands to stare at the ring in the light, a tinge of concern in her voice, “This is entirely too beautiful to be accidentally melted.”

“I don’t wear it when we fight.” Raven’s gaze flicked to her face in surprise. “It’s far too valuable to me.” Kory looked down at the ring, her smile widening, “Besides, on Tamaran we don’t wear jewelry on our fingers; it invites misfortune.” 

The teen nodded, “I’d imagine a degloved finger isn’t considered lucky.” 

Kory chuckled, pulling Raven up with her as she made her way to the elevator, “It really isn’t.” She motioned to the doors, hitting the call button, “How about we go flying before patrol?” Raven smiled and nodded, gliding next to her. 

A few minutes later they flew in comfortable silence, taking in the flickering lights and homebound birds from the clouds. Raven felt the older woman’s curiosity and turned to look at her, one brow raising under the shadow of her hood. 

Kory smiled clumsily. She hesitated for a moment, then questioned, “Do Azarathians have any marriage customs? I know you were raised by monks, so marrying wasn’t too important to your education. But…” 

The redhead trailed off, the curl of her shoulders inviting the younger girl to answer. Raven ran her tongue over her teeth in thought, diving a few feet lower until her cloak nearly skimmed the rooftops. Kory followed patiently, giddy at the consideration in her teammate’s form. 

“Rings are sacred on Azarath,” The teen’s voice was low as she spoke, her tone fond and distant. Kory watched as the goth fiddled with the twin bands that constantly adorned her middle fingers before flicking back to her hooded face. “The monks were abstinent, yes, but the alcolates married and had children, had families…” Her amethyst eyes shut for a long second before sliding back open, “We had betrothal necklaces and, after four circuits of the moons, the matrimonial strands were presented and tied during the ceremony. Although the women were often the ones to carve the necklaces.” 

Her pale fingers flexed once, twice. The goth continued, “Rings were only for monks. My unique nature allowed myself to actually have rings of my own, whether or not I forever planned to stay a monk.”

She was quiet after that, lost in her memories (as she often was whenever she talked about her home dimension) and Kory didn’t bother speaking, filing that information away for later. She briefly thought of Damian and his budding relationship with the goth but threw the idea aside, not wanting to jinx her wishes.

As it turned out, ‘later’ wasn’t for another four years, eight months, three weeks, and six days. 

Dick had burst into their apartment, a giddy grin on his face as he peppered kisses onto his daughter’s cheek and spun her around. He beamed at his wife, nearly vibrating with excitement, “Dami’s thinking about proposing!” 

Kory had paused in preparing the toddler’s snack, her head tilting to the side in thought. She hummed, making up her mind, then flew over to plant a quick peck on her daughter’s forehead, then kissed her husband ( _X’hal_ , nearly five years and she _still_ wasn’t over how amazing that sounded). “I need to talk to Damian. He hasn’t bought a ring yet?” 

Dick shook his head, “No, he’s still looking around. Why? Have some ideas?” He waggled his eyebrows at her, spurring Mar’i into another fit of giggles and Kory to place an exaggerated smooch to his cheek. 

“I have some advice. I’ll be back soon. Have fun you two!” 

Damian wasn’t all too hard to find, all things considered. The Batman-to-be was brooding next to a gargoyle, staring at her in annoyance as she appeared. She knew why, if the silent zip of his notepad being placed in his utility belt meant anything. 

The Tamaranean sat next to him, looking over downtown Blüdhaven as businesses prepared to close for the night. After a moment the young man relaxed (as much as he would allow. He was still on patrol, after all.) and considered her from the corner of his mask. 

“Grayson told you.” 

Kory hummed, choosing not to answer. Instead she leaned back on her palms, “She loves you so she’ll say yes. Just don’t buy her a ring. They’re religiously sacred on Azarath.” 

He didn’t seem phased by her words, although his back got just a bit straighter at Kory’s positive conviction of his future, “I know.” 

“Oh?” Kory felt a smile slide on her lips, _of course_ he knew already. “Any idea what you’ll ask her with, then?” Damian's shoulders drooped again and he ran a palm over his face, a heavy sigh finally escaping. 

He cracked his jaw, eyes narrowing in consideration, “I have a few ideas.” 

Kory stared at him for all of ten seconds before she spoke, “Well? Tell me.” 

The hero clicked his tongue, “Superman gave me a fragment of that meteor he destroyed -- the one that would’ve leveled downtown Shanghai -- and I was going to carve her a necklace.” 

The alien perked up at that, her head tilting to the side in thought. Before she could comment, Damian added, “I’ve seen manuscripts of her favorite Azarathian poems and I’m nearly fluent in reading the script...I’ll find a way to incorporate them, somehow.”

He leaned back against the gargoyle’s wings, biting the inside of his cheek, “Jon’s offered to let me propose in the Fortress of Solitude and both Pennyworth and Grayson promise they’ll find a way to ensure the library at the Manor is empty.” 

Kory chuckled, running a hand through her hair, “She would like both, maybe the library more than the Fortress.” 

“That’s what I was leaning towards.” Damian reached behind him and felt the scaffold on his back, picking at the palms of his gloves. He looked at Kory as she put a hand on his shoulder, smiling softly at him, “I meant what I said earlier, Damian. Necklace or not, library or not, she’s going to say yes.” 

A tanned finger affectionately poked his cheek, “Just get to it before Dick slips up and tells her himself. As much as I love Cass and Steph I _do_ want another sister, you know.” 

Damian nodded, his mind racing as he thought about his soon-to-be maybe (probably) fiancée.

Nearly nine weeks to the day from his conversation with Kory, Damian found himself watching Raven in a mix of awe and love as she floated around, her eyes and hands engulfed with her power as she set about fixing the tattered remains of Gotham Park. 

Ted Dymer lay sobbing in the back of a police cruiser already headed to the station, the Mad Bomber once again foiled despite his partly successful efforts. The rest of GCPD’s night crew had sectioned off the whole park, assured by the heroine that she would fix the playgrounds and patches of grass as much as she could. 

She landed in front of him, a bit winded as she shakily stood. Her violet hair was illuminated by the lazy haze of the streetlights through the bombs’ smoke and her tired eyes shined as she took in her boyfriend’s flutter of emotions. 

At the spike of anxiety, she leaned in worriedly, murmuring against his ear, “ _Habibi_? Is everything okay?” 

Damian blinked at her then turned around and motioned for the closest officer that still lingered to leave. Raven placed a hand on his shoulder as the squad car drove off, jumping a bit as Damian threw five smoke bombs, surrounding them from prying eyes. 

“Damian…?”

He tore off his mask and grabbed her hands, kissing her bare knuckles as his mask fell to the dirt. His emerald gaze was as intense as his emotions and the empath paused, holding his gaze. 

“Marry me.” 

Her eyes widened in surprise, too stunned to speak. 

Damian slid his gloves off and kissed her knuckles again, peering up at her over his lashes. He took out his sword, his most prized possession besides the half-demon’s love, and knelt before her, his determined, lovestruck gaze never leaving her own. 

“Raven Roth, I love you with everything that I am. You’re my life, my soul, my angel. And I don’t-- I don’t have a ring and I don’t have a necklace, but would you accept this sword as dowry? Will you be my wife?” 

Still stunned, she couldn’t breathe as his words repeated over and over in her mind, even as tears began to form and she blinked, feeling them threaten to spill over. A trembling hand rose to cover her heart and she somehow found her voice, “Yes, Damian. Yes! Of course -- _of course_ I will! Yes I’ll marry you!”

Damian just barely moved the sword out of the way when the demoness all but tackled him, covering his lips with her own. He wrapped his arms around her -- _his fiancée_ \-- and felt the wetness of her tears (if he was being honest, _their_ tears) against his cheeks. 

Her pale fingers intertwined with his along the sword’s hilt. 

She giggled happily into their kiss, her dazzling smile as wide as his as they separated and laid their foreheads together. “I love _you_ , Damian Wayne.” 

He hummed low in his chest and stole another quick kiss, feeling drunk and giddy and ever in love, “And I love _you_ , Raven Roth.” 

Damian tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, watching as she brought the hilt up to kiss his knuckles. She grinned against his skin, “You’re my fiancé.” He watched, breathless, as she kissed up his wrist, skipping up to his elbow then jumping to his shoulder. He softly answered her, “I am your fiancé.”

Raven sighed happily as he pulled her up for another kiss. “And I am your fiancée,” she murmured into their embrace. Damian grinned as he hugged her flush against him, “You are my fiancée.” 

He kissed her hairline, hearing her coo as she settled down in the crook of his neck, “And soon you shall be my wife, Mrs. Wayne.”

Her lips peppered along the curve of his jaw, “And soon you shall be my husband, Mr. Wayne.”

Even under the slowly dissipating shroud of smoke, their happiness was not invisible. Not a hundred yards away from them, Nightwing crouched on an apartment’s rooftop, his excited squeals smothered by a leather jacket. Unphased, the older of the two shook his brother’s shoulders in excitement, his cheek pressed against the crimson helmet.


	10. Height Difference

She was meditating when he stalked into her room. Damian leaned against the door as it slid shut, watching his girlfriend hover a few inches over her bed. He crossed his arms and took his time in observing her; her short hair was pulled back in an inefficiently small bun at the nape of her neck, she wasn’t in uniform but clad in one of his Gotham hoodies and distractingly short shorts. He noticed the twitch of her hands with each inhale, how her toes began to curl and uncurl when he first burst in. 

Raven took in another deep breath and opened her eyes, her gaze curious as she felt the annoyed cluster of his emotions. When he didn’t move or speak she let herself drop onto the edge of the duvet, opening her arms. 

Damian stepped to her, leaning down and pulling her up in a standing hug. The goth hummed happily as he buried his face in the side of her neck, grumbling affectionately against her skin. Pale fingers played with the hair at the nape of his neck and she questioned, “Did patrol go that bad?” 

He sighed, pulling just far enough away to see her face, “Patrol was quiet. Nothing to note.”

A signature brow arched over her right eye and she waited. Damian bit at the inside of his cheek and after a beat of silence, continued, “Can one of your spells permanently meld Garfield’s mouth shut?” 

Raven wordlessly brought her hands up to peel off his mask, her fingertips lingering to trace the scars that lay near his jawline. Her amethyst gaze never left his face, “I’m guessing he accidentally hit a sore spot?” At Damian’s narrowed eyes she resumed, “Your emotions are a _mess_ , Darling. Even worse than usual.”

He rolled his eyes at her little joke, pulling her flush against him until his face was pressed along her collar. The pace of her pulse was slightly elevated and he roughly kissed it, a small smile lifting his lips at her gasp. She wriggled under him, tugging at his cape, “Don’t distract me, _Habibi_. Tell me what’s wrong.” 

Damian sighed again and leaned back to face her. She looked down at him, his eyes level with her nose even as he stood straight. His gaze fell just beyond her shoulder and her slender fingers came up to point his chin towards her. His olive eyes narrowed at his girlfriend, accepting that she wouldn’t let this go. 

The goth stayed silent, waiting. After another half minute, he accepted that he wouldn't out-silence her and grumbled out, “You’re taller than me.” 

She blinked. 

He stared at her expectantly. Of what he expected, neither knew. 

She blinked again. 

“Um, yes?” Raven tilted her head to the side, her lips moving as she tried to find words, “I… I thought you _knew_?”

Damian shot her a deadpan stare, rolling his shoulders in embarrassment, “I did know. But you’re getting even taller, _Hiyati_.” He rubbed at the back of his neck, feeling the heat move from his ears to his face, “You’re barefoot, I’m wearing boots and you _still_ need to look down to talk to me.” 

He crossed his arms and averted his stare, feeling her fingertips trail up his arms to unclasp his cape, letting the material fall to the floor. “Damian…” Her voice was soft, a light lilt in her tone as she traced the shell of his ears. When the swordsman didn’t look at her, she cupped his jaw and urged his face up. 

Raven leaned in until their noses brushed, “ _Habibi_... “ She pressed a soft kiss to his lips, a slight grin stretching her lips as he kissed her back. The pads of her fingers traveled to run down his cheeks and she pulled away, resting their foreheads together. She stood on the tips of her toes and Damian pressed closer to keep contact.

He clicked his tongue at her, grabbing her hips to keep her in place. The demoness grinned down at her boyfriend, biting her bottom lip, “I _like_ being taller than you.” 

The ex-assassin rolled his eyes. Raven paid the move no mind, instead leaning down and kissing him again. She pecked his lips once, twice, thrice. Before she could pull away for another quick graze Damian pulled her down to smooch her properly. 

His hands moved away from her hips; one skipped up to cradle the left of her jaw, the other traced the band of her shorts, curling up around to lay on her lower back, pushing her ever closer to him. The half-demon sunk into his embrace, leaning her weight against him as she softly bit his bottom lip. Their mouths separated for half a second to breathe, then slid against each other again. 

Raven started to smile into the kiss, softly swaying from side to side in his arms. She pulled away and chuckled, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear, “Didn’t need to be taller to kiss me like _that_.”

Damian felt a surge of pride at the breathlessness of her voice and kissed the underside of her jaw, peppering his kisses down to her throat. She let out a girlish giggle as he swayed with her, relentless in his ministrations. He raised his head and pressed their foreheads together again, feeling the imprint of her ruby on his skin. Mossy eyes observed her face, still light with happiness. 

She gave him a knowing smirk and he rolled his eyes, leaning up on his toes to kiss her again.


	11. Botched Proposal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Fluffy prompt 050: I planned out this super romantic proposal and you just ruined it by beating me to the whole proposing thing_

Raven smiled blissfully as she lounged on Damian’s chest. Their hammock swayed lightly in the breeze and the warm tropic rain poured down on them. Her boyfriend had taken to lazily running his fingers through her soaking mass of hair, untangling any knots as he did so. Neither spoke, instead listening to the angry crash of waves against the rocky cliffs a few hundred feet below. 

The mage turned and pressed a kiss above his heart, the pads of her fingers lightly tracing over a still healing scar near his clavicle. “ _Habibi_ ,” She murmured, grinning as her fingertips tapped where the raindrops fell on his chest, “I love you.” Her hands stilled as Damian intertwined their fingers and brought them to his mouth, kissing her knuckles. 

He smiled against her skin and their eyes met as he murmured back, “And I love you, _Hiyati_.” Raven leaned up and stole a kiss from his lips, giggling as their hammock nearly toppled over from the movement. Damian wrapped his arms around her and casually ran his fingers along the skin over her ribs, tracing the line of her swimsuit. A smug smirk slid over his lips as he played with the knot on her bikini top before he leaned down to kiss along the line of her throat. 

As he did, his eyes glanced at his watch, ensuring that they still had over two hours until dinner. He grinned when he saw that they were half an hour early; more time for kisses now, since he absolutely _refused_ to be late on tonight of all nights. 

Raven hummed as he rolled on top of her, his mouth moving along her skin. Like always, he savored the taste of salt, cinnamon, and sage that constantly clung to her. He peppered kisses up to the side of her mouth and, like always, she let out the softest hum as she grasped at his shoulder, her back arching. 

Like always, her lashes fluttered open and they stared at each other for a breathless second, then they came together for another kiss. Her hands tangled in his hair and, just like always, she threw a wrench in his plans in the best possible way.

Raven broke the kiss and pressed their foreheads together, her hands trembling as they traced his jaw. She swallowed thickly, her pupils dilating wildly, “Damian…” Her words were ardent, a near whisper. Even a breath away, the swordsman nearly didn’t hear her. Instead he watched her mouth, watched as she nibbled on her lower lip and took a deep breath. The demoness hesitated for a moment, then let her impulsiveness guide her. 

She pecked his chin, then the corner of his mouth, then his lips, “Marry me.”

His brows jumped nearly to his hairline and his hands tightened around her, pulling her even closer. Her words seemed the echo in the space between them as Damian’s olive eyes flicked over her face. Raven shakily smiled as all tension seemed to seep off of him and he tilted her chin up, their faces smushed together. 

Damian began to chuckle, pressing a soft kiss to the tip of her nose. Raven batted her eyes at him and his kisses spread out, bouncing from her forehead to her cheeks to her temple. Pale fingers slowly curled along his arms, “Damian…”

“You stole my idea, _Habibti_.” His hands cradled her face, lazily pushing aside the wet strands of hair. She hummed as a raindrop plopped on her nose and his shoulders started to shake, “I was going to propose after dinner.”

Amethyst eyes widened. He cut off her budding question with a kiss, nuzzling against her. One hand reached down to his pocket, swiftly pulling out the velvet box that he hadn’t taken off his person for nearly half a year. Raven blinked at the sight of a gorgeous, simple ring being presented to her, her tears hidden by the rainfall. 

“Technically,” She whimpered, her emotions overwhelmed as she gave him her left hand, “I asked first.”

Damian barked out a laugh and pressed a kiss to the side of her jaw. Her lips trembled and she started to laugh as he delicately slipped the ring onto her finger. His tan thumbs wiped at her tears and he leaned over her to kiss her properly. She brought her hands up to cup his face and a rumble escaped him at the unfamiliar coolness of her ring against his skin. 

Damian pulled away an inch, “I would be honored to be your husband,” he whispered against her lips. 

Raven smiled against him, her lashes wet as she gazed up at her fiancé, “And I cannot wait until I am your wife.”


	12. Boy or Girl?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Fluffy prompt 071: “I bet it’s a girl/boy.”_

_Two months, one week, four days:_

Being a powerful half demon came with many advantages; to be able to wield black magic, to fly, to heal, to use telekinesis, to feel the emotions of everyone around her. Her powers had led her to the Titans, allowed for her to overcome her destiny, and were the reason why she met and was able to fall in love with Damian. Yes, being the daughter of Trigon brought many positives. 

But being a demoness had quite a few disadvantages as well. One such disadvantage was the _uncertainty_ in her pregnancy. Her husband’s hand was warm against hers as they looked at the screen. The gel was cold on her slightly protruding stomach as the OB/GYN searched for the fetus, her lips pursed in concentration. A bright flash flickered near the bottom and the doctor focused on it, her eyes widening in shock as the image settled on the screen. 

Swirling around itself, the fetus shined in splotches of white and gray, resembling a collapsing star more than a developing human. All three of them gaped at the screen, their eyes flicking to her stomach. Steeling her nerves, the doctor rechecked Raven’s vitals and squared her shoulders, looking at the expectant couple. 

“I can only assume that your… mixture of genetics is causing the fetus to look this way.” The OB/GYN grabbed her clipboard, triple checking her notes, “However, both you and the baby are healthy and on schedule, Mrs. Wayne. There shouldn’t be any complications, but until the child is born or until its form… stabilizes, so the say, we won’t know of any of its physical traits.” 

Damian’s eyes narrowed, his fingers protectively intertwining with his wife’s, “Does that carry any risks?” 

The doctor shook her head, “We only won’t know the gender. Newborns occasionally have extra limb growths -- an extra toe or finger, for example -- but those aren’t taken care of until after the birth. And, as you can see here,” She pointed the camera near the fetus’ edge and used her finger to trace where the umbilical cord was, “Blood tests can find any genetic defects or potential diseases. Aside from that, it will be the same as any normal pregnancy.”

Relieved, Raven sunk back down and touched her stomach. Damian brought their hands up to kiss her knuckles once, then helped the doctor wipe the gel off her skin. The couple lovingly gazed at each other and he leaned in for a quick kiss. “We’re having a baby,” He murmured against her lips, his heart soaring at his wife’s ecstatic giggles. 

_Three months, two weeks, six days:_

“He’s gonna be the bounciest baby boy,” Raven’s voice was sure as she rested her feet on her husband’s lap, her palms pressed over the curve of her ever-growing stomach. Damian’s brows jumped and he lowered his book, an incredulous look on his face, “Pregnancy shouldn’t make you senile, _Habibti_. Our daughter’s going to be just as beautiful as her mother.” 

She sighed, opening her arms for Alfred the Cat to walk along her lap. He sniffed at her stomach, his head tilting as he blinked at her skin. “Alfred’ll know,” Her pale fingers scratched behind the cat’s ears, “You know our baby boy will be a future Batman, don’t you Alfred?” 

The cat meowed and lightly headbutted her bellybutton, turning to look at the mage a second after. Raven shot a smug look at her husband and picked the feline into her arms, kissing the top of his head. “Tell Dami that he’s wrong, won’t you?”

Damian clicked his tongue when Alfred meowed at him. Still, a grin split his lips and he added, “I hope she’ll have her mother’s hair.” Raven blew him a kiss, “And he better have his father’s eyes.”

_Five months, two weeks, one day:_

Titus and Damian rested their heads on her lap, snout-to-nose. The Great Dane’s ear was flopped over her bellybutton and Damian’s cheek was smushed against her stomach as they listened to the baby move around. 

Giddy, Damian kissed her skin and poked her stomach, his grin widening when a foot pressed back. Titus lifted his head as Raven hissed at the feeling, flicking at her husband’s temple, “This boy kicks as much as his father.” 

“She’ll be a great fighter one day,” He kissed where the tiny foot imprinted on Raven’s skin. 

_Six months, three weeks, two days:_

Raven levitated over the bathroom sink. Her fingers slowly traced the four red eyes that glowed through her skin, the dull red bold and warm against the ivory of her stomach. She heard as Damian stirred but ignored him, barely registering the sound of his feet on the floor as he peeked in the bathroom. 

He inhaled sharply and approached her from behind, his eyes staring at the marks on his wife’s skin. Raven leaned back into his embrace, a shaky smile curling her lips as he pressed a kiss to her shoulder. 

Damian sighed as he started rubbing soft circles on her sides, burying his nose where her shoulder met her neck, “Guess she’ll absolutely be a demon, then?” 

The witch nodded, letting her head fall back. She turned her head and kissed his cheek, “The grandson of Trigon, huh?” 

_Eight months, two weeks, six days:_

Raven leaned her head on Jon’s shoulder, gesturing to her husband. She gave him a look of disbelief, pouting when the Kryptonian laughed instead of emphasizing with her. Damian snorted at her look, “Jon knows that I’m right.” 

He held up a light peach onesie, the words ‘Batman’s Favorite Princess’ in bold letters across the chest. A wicked grin split his lips, “Of course, you’re still my favorite queen, _Habibti_. Our daughter needs to match.”

Jon peeked at Raven’s pile of baby outfits, biting back a snicker at the sheer amount of boys’ clothes folded on the table. He turned to look at the demoness when she rolled her eyes, huffing as she braced herself on her knees and stood. The men watched as her eyes lit up, a box sliding out from behind the crib, engulfed in her magic. 

Damian smiled at the sight, putting down the onesie and crossing his arms as he smirked at his best friend. Raven beamed at Jon as she placed the box in his hands, leaning in as her husband slung an arm around her waist, tan fingertips softly rubbing the curve of her belly. 

Pale hands rested on top of her massive stomach, “You can open it, Jon.” 

He did as the pregnant woman said, tearing away the wrapping paper. His sapphire eyes widened, filling with tears as he picked up the teddy bear. Its paws held a stuffed heart decorated with Raven’s flowery handwriting: _Will you be our son’s godfather?_

_Nine months, zero weeks, four days:_

Bruce softly ran his hand through his daughter-in-law’s damp hair, smiling down at her. She tiredly grinned back, unable to keep her eyes open in her exhaustion. Damian laid next to her, his lips pressed to her temple, two incredibly small babies balanced carefully in his arms. They each had two eyes, ten fingers and ten toes.

Luckily, their eyes were beginning to lose the crimson glow, content in their father’s arms. Dick waved from the room’s entrance, his gaze trained on the twins. Bruce chuckled at his excitement and raised a finger over his lips. 

He casually looked his grandchildren over as Dick practically pranced to Damian’s side. “I’m surprised the others let you come in first,” Bruce murmured, leaning over to speak to his son. Dick smirked at him, softly letting his new niece grab onto his pinky.

“Jon felt bad that he was the only one allowed in the delivery room. Plus, they know that I’m Dami’s favorite,” Focusing his attention back to the newborns, he cooed, “But these two are definitely gonna be the new favorites. Aren’t you two just the cutest?” 

Bruce chuckled at the baby talk, lazily stroking the short tuft of hair on his grandson’s head. They were a perfect mix of their parents, with bright amethyst eyes and inky hair, Damian’s chin and Raven’s brow, his button nose and her widow’s peak. 

A tender smile split his lips, “At least they have enough clothes for them both.” 

Dick smothered his laugh, his cobalt eyes glancing between the two new parents, “That’s right! Leave it to these two to split a bet.” 

“Worth it, though.”

“Of course you’d say that. More grandkids for you to spoil.”


	13. At the Gala

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Types of kisses #9: quick kisses that you steal from each other at parties_

As the son of Bruce Wayne, Damian was practically the prince of Gotham. Although he asserted his time would be better spent fighting crime, he attended each and every gala that his father hosted, no matter how mind numbingly _boring_ they were. The fake smiles, how overly botoxed women smothered in perfume tried to sell him on their daughters, the strain of forcing himself to stay in place when one investor locked him in a conversation about mindless drivel, droning on and on _and on_. 

Lucky for him, Raven always jumped at the opportunity to join him. And why wouldn’t she? She got to dress up all fancy, actually _ballroom dance_ (like in a goddamn Jane Austen novel), and Damian always showed her off to his guests. 

Plus, her boyfriend looked absolutely _gorgeous_ in his fitted suit. 

So gorgeous, in fact, that she couldn’t help but pull him aside into the shadows as they passed the hors d'oeuvres table. Sneakily pulling his collar down, she pressed her lips to his neck and smiled against his skin, savoring his surprised gasp. His ears and cheeks darkened at the move but he stayed silent, staring as she pulled away, her pale fingers neatly tucking his collar back into place. 

Raven beamed at him, making sure that the lipstick mark wasn’t visible. Stepping out of the shadows, she grabbed a flute of champagne and took his hand, leading them back into the monotonous throng of ass-kissing rich people. 

Damian pulled her to his side as one of the dozens of bankers approached them. As the old, obviously spray-tanned man boasted about his company’s successful quarter, the young Wayne slyly pressed his lips to his lover’s temple. The goth wriggled happily under his arm, hiding her smile with a sip of champagne. 

The banker’s wife pulled him away and the couple turned as Bruce beckoned them over, the billionaire surrounded by a group of stuffy men in pin suits. Raven pulled her boyfriend’s hand up to her mouth, softly kissing his knuckles as she slipped away to help Alfred. Damian clicked his tongue at her but settled in next to his father, stretching his fake smile as he shook their hands. 

He didn’t suffer for long. Not even two minutes into their conversation, Raven reappeared at his side, her hand resting in the middle of his back. “I hate to interrupt,” She sheepishly smiled at the men, “But you wouldn’t happen to mind me stealing him away for a moment?”

Without waiting for an answer, Damian nodded at the group and let her lead him away to the balcony, sighing happily as the cool night air hit his face. He loosened his tie and pulled off his coat, slipping it over her shoulders. Raven rolled her eyes at the act, giggling as he pulled her close and stole a kiss. He hummed low in his throat when she sunk into the kiss. “Thanks for that, _Habibti_.” He murmured, pecking the corner of her mouth. 

Raven grinned at him, lazily peeking down his shirt at the red lipstick that stood out on his tan skin. She straightened her back, giddy when he looked up at her face. Leaning down, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him again.


	14. Bed Overload

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompt: “I told you this would be a bad idea:”_

Raven stood at the foot of their bed, pinching in between her eyes. The moon shined through the window, illuminating the clock. The goth’s gaze flicked from her boyfriend to the her face falling since it wasn’t even _four in the morning_. Damian was smart enough to look guilty (even if his emotions screamed otherwise) as he shot her a lopsided smile. 

Amethyst eyes narrowed when he purposefully turned so his dimple appeared. He even batted his eyes as he patted on the tiniest sliver of free space on her duvet, obviously hoping she would be _too_ angry. 

Raven held out her palms incredulously, her sleep-deprived brain still catching up to the situation at hand, “ _How_?”

Damian rubbed behind his neck, cringing as he looked at all the animals that slept on her bed. BatCow raised her head and nudged at his stomach, moo-ing softly as one of the cats curled up in between her shoulders. Raven let out a breath, the sound somewhere between an exasperated laugh and a sigh (it was both, if she was being honest with herself) and the swordsman shrugged at her, apologetic. 

Luckily, she wasn’t taking it _that_ badly, given how the ends of her lips were starting to curl up. Raven ran her fingers through her hair, mussing up her bedhead even more, “I knew this would happen.” Groaning in acceptance, Raven rubbed her hands over her face. She floated over to her once empty side of the bed and buried her face against BatCow’s shoulder. 

“I told him this was a bad idea,” Ignoring Damian’s hopeful stare on her back, she continued grumbling against the bovine’s neck, “‘Just one more pet, _Habibti_. He may be a guard dog but Titus should have a companion, don’t you think? I _promise_ I won’t go overboard with the strays this time.’ Pfft,” The goth sat up and blew another raspberry, this time aimed at her boyfriend. 

Emboldened by the demoness’ playfulness, Damian leaned over the horde of animals and stole a kiss from her lips, smiling as her lashes fluttered shut. Raven hummed as he pulled back, her tired face brightening from his kisses. 

She held up a finger and shifted off the bed before he could kiss her again, “How many are here? Species included.” 

Although he already knew, he quickly looked the animals over, “Two fully grown dogs, one puppy, four cats, nine kittens, eight ravens, three pigeons, and one squirrel.”

Rubbing at her eyes, she gave him a pointed look. 

He bit the inside of his cheek, “...And one cow.” 

Despite everything, Raven let out a giggle, the sound morphing into a yawn, “Sounds like the start of one of those ridiculously specific math problems.”

Walking around the bed, he pulled her into his arms. “You know,” He kissed the underside of her jaw, hearing her sigh, “Those math problems usually end with the people being _very_ happy with their ridiculously specific purchases.” 

She turned her head, deadpanning, “That only happens after the person _solving_ the problem curses the textbook writers to Hell and back for adding so many variables.” 

He kissed behind her ear instead of answering and she smiled. Leaning her head back, the goth said, “We can keep them.” His arms tightened around her and Raven quickly interrupted him before he could speak, “But! We set up a stable of some sort… and we’ll have to get a bigger mattress.” 

“We already have a king.”

She pointed at the overfilled bed, the boxspring already busted under the weight of their new pets, “You’re rich. Get a specialty one. You know I need at least three pillows.” 

“Funny,” He mused teasingly, kissing her neck again, “I thought you just needed all my covers.” 

Snorting, she smothered his chuckles with another kiss, laughing against his mouth when BatCow moo-ed out again.


	15. Jealousy?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompt 003: “I’m here for my daily fix of hugs and kisses.”_

Raven cooed as she scratched behind Titus’ ears, peppering sweet kisses on top of his head. The puppy wriggled happily in her arms, his leg shaking frantically when she rubbed his stomach. Casually, she teleported to the common room and sat on the couch, not once taking her eyes off of the team’s newest member. 

Titus licked her cheek and she softly laughed, lifting him so their faces were even. She pecked his snout and rubbed her cheek against the top of his head, giddy at the happiness that radiated off of the Great Dane. The goth was so consumed in playing with Titus that she nearly didn’t notice as Damian approached, only looking up when he sat down next to her. Shifting her weight, she cradled Titus like a baby, chuckling as Damian scratched underneath the dog’s chin. 

The swordsman’s eyes flicked to her face. Their gazes met and he cleared his throat, quickly averting his eyes. He turned back to her when Raven hummed, the sound high in her throat. The goth was looking out the windows at the inky sky, her hands casually petting Titus’ stomach. “You’re not on patrol,” She mused, raising a brow at him, “Not that I don’t mind, but that _never_ happens with you. Is something wrong?”

Damian snorted at her question, crossing his arms, “You know _exactly_ what’s wrong, Witch Girl.” 

“‘Witch Girl’? Oh no, something _is_ wrong.”

“It’s past seven,” He harrumphed, annoyedly tugging on his earlobe. The hero _knew_ that he would be blushing if he had to say the words aloud and decided against it. Instead, he lightly pet Titus’ forehead, gnawing on the inside of his cheek. Damian looked at his girlfriend again, “You’ve been with Titus since this morning.” 

Raven tilted her head, confused, “Well, yes? Crime’s been slow.” 

Rubbing the back of his neck, Damian cleared his throat, “That’s not the point.” Before she could ask, the words sped out of his lips, “I haven’t had a chance to be with you the whole day.” 

She still didn’t get it, “You could have joined us?” The mage raised Titus so their faces were level as they beamed at the ex-assassin, “You know we both love spending time with you.” 

Olive eyes rolled and he sighed again, “ _Habibti_ , I meant _without_ Titus.”

Raven’s head tilted even more, her brows furrowing. Damian’s lips pulled to a straight line, annoyed at himself for being unable to just _ask_ his girlfriend for what he wanted. Something in his emotions must have tipped the empath off, because Raven let out a string of giggles as the reason for his moodiness came to her. Softly setting Titus down on the floor, she held out her arms. 

Damian didn’t move save for his eyebrow arching. The goth teasingly wriggled her fingers, “I’ll have you know, there’s no daily limit when it comes to affection.” She pitched forward to peck his cheek, adding, “I have plenty of kisses, Darling. Well enough for both you _and_ Titus.”

The Bat snorted at her assertion but pulled her into his arms anyway, grinning as he stole a much anticipated kiss from her lips. Raven cooed when she pulled away, her fingers tangling in his hair. “Needy, needy, needy,” She teased as she peppered his face with kisses, her lips jumping from his chin to his cheeks to his ears to his temples. Raven hummed as she trailed her kisses down, softly biting at his pulse. 

“Titus got me during the day,” She murmured against his jaw, smiling as she kissed a scar that lingered just adjacent to his Adam’s apple, “But you’ll get me the whole night.” Damian would never admit that his breath caught at her words, but they both felt the movement. 

Slyly, Raven pecked the corner of his mouth, “C’mon, Boy Blunder. Your room or mine?”


	16. Creeps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompt: 026: “People are jerks, but not you.”_

Raven wrapped her arms around Damian’s arm, a lazy smile on her face as they strolled down the street. Despite his nerves (at being out and about at night or her closeness, she didn’t know), he was a bastion of calm in the midst of the busy, emotional chaos that was downtown. She leaned her head against his, turning to press a soft kiss to his temple. 

Damian turned to face her, his nose pressing under her ear, “You’re clingier than I’d thought.”

The mage snorted at that and blew a raspberry at him, her laugh soft as he rolled his eyes. “It’s not being _clingy_ , Darling,” She mused, inching closer as they sidestepped a food cart, “I just like being around you. You’re comfortable.” 

The swordsman clicked his tongue at that, although he did tilt his face to her when she kissed his cheek. Quickly looking around that they wouldn’t be blocking foot traffic, she peppered a few more pecks along his face, trailing down to hum against his jaw. She giggled when a hum escaped Damian at the affection, the sound low in his throat. 

Their quiet moment was interrupted by an obnoxious, drunken voice, “HEY THERE, CUTIE! YOU GONNA GIVE US SOME SUGAR TOO?!”

The two heroes stiffened at the shout, Damian turning to glare while Raven frowned over his shoulder. Two men (boys, really) leaned out a truck’s windows, ogling Raven as the tires crept past. Feeling the sharp spike in his emotions, Raven gripped her boyfriend’s arm, keeping Damian from pulling out whatever weapon he inevitably had stashed on his person. 

The drunk waggled his fingers at them as they passed, the driver’s laugh booming over their music, “SEE YA, BEAUTIFUL!” The truck’s wheels chirped as the driver sped off, barely avoiding hitting a pedestrian as he ran a red light. 

Abruptly, Raven turned on her heel and forced Damian to walk back the way they came, an annoyed huff leaving her. Her boyfriend was silent, brooding as he glanced from her to the street and back again, “Does that happen… often?”

Sighing, pale hands went to wrap around his arm but he beat her to the punch, holding her waist and bringing her close. He pressed a kiss to the side of her jaw, his gaze intense. After a moment, Raven admitted, “People are jerks, Damian. I do get cat-calls sometimes…” She trailed off, a sad sigh escaping, “Never when I’m in uniform, though. Brutes like that are only brave when they know someone won’t fight back.”

“You can fight back. We could’ve scared them straight right now.” 

He frowned as his fingers drummed against her hips. Shaking her head, the goth blinked at him, “I don’t argue when they harass _me_ … Otherwise they take it out on the next woman they decide to cat-call. I know that my time is better spent elsewhere.” She leaned down to peck his lips before he could retort, murmuring into the space, “Why bother with those two when I can catch other jerks in the act?” 

She leaned her head against his again, explaining, “Cat-callers rarely act when there’s such a loud crowd. They’re only brave enough to be so disgusting when there’s a few people around. So, I stop them when they harass _other_ civilians. I’ll put aside my feelings if it forces them to be accountable in the very near future.” 

Damian begrudgingly accepted the logic of her words, his hand tightening against her waist regardless. He angled his face down to press a kiss, possessive and dark, on her jawline, grumbling out, “They’re still jerks.” 

Raven hummed in agreement, a grin splitting her lips as she leaped up into his arms. His surprise didn’t keep him from catching her, of course, although his brows jumped to his hairline at her impulsiveness. Raven pecked his cheek, for once not caring about any stares they received, “A lot of people are jerks, Darling. But not you.” She smoothly stole a kiss from his lips, subtly floating to take any strain off him (even though they both knew that he could carry her easily) so she could deepen the embrace.

He quickly carried her to an alleyway and parted for air, groaning against her lips when she pulled him in for another kiss. Her fingers tangled in his hair as her feet took to the ground again, pulling them flush against each other. 

Damian lopsidedly grinned at her as they pulled away, resting their foreheads together. Feeling affectionate, he spread his kisses out, pecking the apples of her cheeks, her forehead, the tip of her nose, and finally her temples. Chuckling, he teasingly admonished against her hairline, “There are other ways to change the topic, you know.”

The goth smothered her laugh as she nuzzled against him, pulling him closer, “But none of those ways are as fun as kissing you senseless.” 

Damian snorted at her, “You’re not close to senseless yet.” Her lips nearly pouted at the tease before parting in surprise, a little gasp slipping out when he cupped her chin and took another kiss. This time, he pulled her up and stole her breath away, swallowing her squeaks when his hands ran up and down her sides. 

After what seemed like an eternity, they pulled apart for air. Raven’s cheeks were ruddy as she giggled girlishly, burying her face in the crook of his neck as she tried to catch her breath. She peppered the tan skin with butterfly kisses, trailing up to his ear, “C’mon and give me another, Bird Boy. I still have _some_ sense.”


	17. Meeting the Bat Men

_Bruce:_

He had already met her, of course. She was a Titan, a remarkably competent and powerful one at that. The two had met when she first joined the Titans and she had impressed him with her stoicism at finding out his identity when Damian joined the team. 

He’d assumed that her dark cloak and costume were related to any hangups she had over being Trigon’s daughter. But no, she was just goth. She liked black clothes and the shadows that cloaks brought, she wore many rings and painted her nails black, she was dry and sarcastic enough to match _Alfred._

The Bat had to admit, his son had good taste in women. 

So he nodded at the teenager as she was officially introduced to the family, immediately noticing how she well she fit in the family’s aesthetic. Black clothes, loves the dark, _incredibly_ dangerous? And the fact that she made Damian _happy_? 

Just another bonus.

_Dick:_

He had seen it coming a mile away. 

_Damian Wayne_ doesn’t just make an extra trip to Blüdhaven to talk about a girl for no reason. And the fact that Raven was not-so-subtly asking Kory for advice? It didn’t take a detective to see the writing on the wall. 

But Kory had refused to let him meddle, so he waited. He watched their budding relationship grow from the sidelines, giddily answering any questions and handing out advice to his baby brother when he called. 

So yes, there was a _possibility_ that he slipped up and called them ‘Morticia and Gomez 2.0’ in front of the others when Alfred warned them to be on their best behavior. And _sure_ , Steph probably overheard him fawning over how lovestruck Damian was when they went on patrol a few nights back. And his proud reenactment of Damian brainstorming how to plan the perfect first date _just so happened_ to be in front of Duke and Tim. 

He hadn’t _meddled_. Not at all.

_Jason:_

He had been surprised that there wasn’t anything wrong with her. She was dating _Damian_ , surely there had to be some catch, right?

But no, Raven was _cool_. A half demon, one who was _Trigon’s_ daughter? Of course she was cool. Could probably best him in a fight if she really needed to. Which meant she could definitely kick the little brat’s ass. Although, with how flustered he was by her holding his hand as he introduced her, Jason had to concede that they were still in the honeymoon phase.

He had tucked his hands behind his head and propped his feet up on the table, nodding as he sized her up. An unspoken part of him was proud that the baby Bat at least had good taste in women, because she was _dangerous_. 

Not just dangerous in the fighting sense. He heard Dick’s snickering as Raven kissed the brat’s cheek, making his cheeks flush. A sly smirk slid on his lips as he recognized just how much teasing this little introduction could bring. 

_Tim:_

He was a simple man, really. 

Everyone knew not to stand in between him and his coffee. He had been running on three hours of sleep in the past who knows how many days when Damian and his girlfriend walked in. She had been holding a container of tea in her hand and he raised a brow at her, squinting as he tried to place her face.

Giving up under the weight of of sleep deprivation, Tim tipped his coffee cup at her. She clinked the rim of her thermos against his mug’s brim. “Coffee?” She questioned. 

He nodded, motioning to her drink, “Tea?” 

“Matcha.” 

His brows jumped, “Extra caffeine?”

Raven smiled at him, “Of course. I need it right now.” 

Sluggishly nodding at his little brother, he patted her shoulder, “She’s a good one.” 

_Duke:_

He had seen the trainwreck of an introduction that his brothers had made with her. He hadn’t been surprised and, by the looks of it, neither was she. 

Instead, he held out a hand and properly introduced himself, “I’m Duke.” 

She nodded, “Raven.”

“Sorry about all of them. Alfred and I are the most sane of the family.”

Although she was goth, everything about Raven was surprisingly light as she laughed, her dark hair fluttering about as she did so. “You know, Damian told me that Cass was pretty ‘normal’ compared to the rest of you,” Her smile was wide as Duke snorted, “She’s the favorite, but I’m the logical one.”

Teasingly, he conspiratorially stage whispered, “Watch out, or the others will have you chugging coffee and jumping off of moving cars in no time flat.” Dick let out an indignant gasp at that and Raven laughed again, hiding her chuckles behind her palm. 

He watched as Damian bossed Jason into putting his feet down, trying to ensure that the family made a good first impression on her. Raven turned to him when he nudged her side, “Yes?”

Lazily rolling his bottom lip in between his teeth, he smiled at her, “Despite all of… that,” He motioned to Damian and Jason now practically fighting, with Dick hugging them both and Tim nearly asleep against Bruce’s shoulder, “I want you to know that you make him _really_ happy.” 

Raven blushed at his words, fiddling with her rings as she shyly watched Dick pinch his brothers’ ears, “You really think so?”

“Pfft,” He side-eyed her, “This is _Damian_ we’re talking about. He’s so much happier now that you two are together. Well, not _now_ ,” Jason had him in a headlock, “But it’s still kinda surreal, y’know? Seeing him try to hide his smile and just be lovestruck whenever someone even _mentions_ you.”

He beamed at the goth, happy at how reassured she looked at his assessment. “You know,” He nudged her again and met her eyes, “I’m rooting for you two. I’ll make sure he doesn’t mess it up, alright? I could use another sister.”

Giggling, Raven nodded, her cheeks flaming at his remark.

_Alfred:_

He loudly cleared his throat, glaring at his wards as they separated from their scuffle. “Keep the fighting in the gym, you three,” He admonished. Turning to Raven, he smiled at her, “As much fun as this must’ve been, you may want to unpack before Miss Cassandra, Miss Stephanie, and Miss Barbara arrive.” 

Straightening up, Raven pitched forward to peck Damian’s cheek before she followed the butler to her room. Her eyes were wide as she took in all the art that lined the hallway, noticing how he seemed to be fond of her already. He cleared his throat again as he opened her door, “Here you are, Miss Raven.” 

“Thank you, Mister Pennyworth.” 

“I’ll send Damian to fetch you in a few minutes. Dinner will be soon.”

“Oh!” Resting her hand on the doorframe, Raven bit the inside of her cheek, “If it isn’t too much of a bother, may I ask for some tea as well? The trip over here drained me a bit.” 

The old man smiled at her, “What flavor?” 

Her head tilted to the side, “Do you have Earl Grey?”

His brows jumped an inch, “With a teaspoon of brown sugar and a slice of lemon?”

Blinking in surprise, Raven nodded, “...Yes. Did Damian tell you how I take my tea?”

Chuckling, he added, “That’s how I take my Earl Grey. You have good taste, Miss Raven. It seems that Master Damian has good taste as well.” 

Beaming, Raven bowed her head to hide her face behind her hair, excited that her introductions were all going so well. She looked up into his face, glad at the comfortable press of his emotions, “I’m glad that you like me, Mister Pennyworth. Kory made it out that you’re the one to impress.” 

He smirked at her, leaning in to murmur into the space between them, “She was right, you know.” He winked playfully, “There’s no test, but had there been; you would have passed.”

Straightening up, he smiled at her, “I’ll send the tea up with Master Damian in a few minutes. I really hope you’ll enjoy your stay here, Miss Raven.” He made to turn but paused, meeting her gaze, “I can already tell that the family will absolutely love you, although maybe not as much as Master Damian does.” 

He turned to walk away, practically hearing the smile that stretched across her face.


	18. Sugar and Spice and... Even More Sugar, Actually:

Damian raised a brow as Raven leaned her chin on his shoulder, narrowing her eyes at the soft pretzel in his hand. He took a moment to admire how the neon lights from the tacky roller coaster shined on her, making her dark eyes shine. He nudged his girlfriend’s side, an amused smile starting to curl his lips at how she all but stalked the snack in his hands, considering her options. 

“You know,” He mused, angling the pretzel to her face, “You can just ask for a bite.” 

Snorting, the goth poked the dough, her nose wrinkling when salt came off on her finger, “Just how salty is it?” Her lips pouted in concern. A second later mauve eyes looked over his face before she impulsively leaned in, cupping his cheek and stealing a quick kiss from his lips. Raven pulled away before he could reciprocate, a lazy smile forming when he gave her a pointed look. 

Damian pulled the pretzel away to peck her cheek. “It’s not too bad,” He murmured against her skin, for once not minding the PDA as Raven curled up against his side. He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and handed her the pretzel as the demoness considered, “I mean, you’ve been eating it and _you_ don’t taste too salty… Can’t be _that_ bad, right?” 

Making up her mind, Raven rolled her shoulders and took a rather large bite. 

Damian tilted his head to watch her, his brows arching in question when her lips twisted in horror and she shook her head. Moving with a forced casualness that contradicted the look on her face, she took her bag off. Raven handed it and then the pretzel back to her boyfriend before abruptly taking off in a sprint, using her magic to keep her from bumping into the other people milling about. The swordsman blinked after her retreating form, losing track of her as she disappeared into the crowd. 

His brows jumped to his hairline, the only thing not hiding his jolt of surprise when she teleported back next to him a moment later, her powers hidden by the shade of the amusement park’s restaurant. Somehow, she had bought a bowl of ice cream ( _somehow_ , in the seventeen seconds that she was gone, if that clock on the wall was accurate), and wasted no time in grabbing her bag back. 

Damian cleared his throat as she took out an extra large bottle of hot sauce from her too-small satchel, staring at her incredulously as she doused the dessert. Raven met her boyfriend’s gaze as she scooped out a piece, deadpanning, “Demons don’t like salt.”

She cuddled up next to him in the hard plastic seats, sticking out her tongue at the pretzel, “Salty food _sucks_ when I eat it, Darling. I get stomach cramps, puke a bunch, I just-- _ugh_ it sucks.” Feeling rather than hearing his unasked question, she added, “Salt affects me for the same reason why you’d put a salt circle around a summoning shrine. I need to eat the same amount of salt as you, but it can’t be ‘raw,’ so to speak.” 

“Hmmm…” Damian’s voice was thoughtful as he guessed, “So you prefer sweet and spicy instead?” He lazily drummed his fingertips along her waist, smiling when she rose up to kiss his cheek. Raven impishly batted her lashes at him, cheekily adding, “Of course I do. I’m dating _you_ , aren’t I?”

Damian immediately smothered her giggles with a kiss, unable to hold back his smile against her lips at her horrid jokes. Still chuckling, Raven trailed her lips to his jaw and up to his ear. The goth fully nuzzled against him, comfortable in the soft wash of his emotions. 

After a moment, she proudly held up her spicy mint-and-chip sunday. The demoness kissed her lover’s cheek again, “Wanna bite?” 

They stared at each other, Raven’s eyes practically daring him to finish the joke. Smirking at the expectant wriggle of her shoulders, he rolled his eyes, “I don’t want a bite of _ice cream_ …”

She leaned up until their noses touched, “Oh?”

Seamlessly depositing both their snacks on the table, he grabbed her waist and pulled her closer, stealing a kiss.


	19. Reminiscing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Domestic prompt 23: Going through old boxes_

Raven pulled her feet up under her as she settled down on the couch. Giddy, she sliced open the box in front of her and shook her head at the puff of dust that billowed up. Reaching into the cardboard, she quickly shifted through the contents, her violet eyes brightening as the spine of a certain leatherbound book came into sight. 

Damian grunted as he carefully set down a pile of boxes, raising a brow at his girlfriend’s happy gasp. He walked over to the couch and glanced over her shoulder, snorting as he caught sight of his old journal. The mage set a hopeful glance his way and he rolled his eyes, “We can throw that away.”

Raven raised a brow at the thinly contained, flustered mess of emotions that hit her empathy, “Oh no.” A grin began to curl her lips, “You _want_ to just throw away your old notes? _Habibi_ , what’s in here?”

Pale hands held the journal up, ready to open it. When Damian only shrugged at her, she flipped open the pages. Chuckling, Damian walked over and sat down next to her, “I’m not translating anything.” Raven pouted and leaned against his shoulder, “This is all in Arabic.”

“I know.”

She reached up to kiss the underside of his jaw, “Damian.” He ignored her and her cute face, busying himself with taking the other books out of the box. Raven refused to let it go and let her stare bore into him. 

He cracked after only half a minute, turning to look at her. The mage’s brows jumped at the beginning of a blush on his ears, “It’s either _really_ bad or _really_ embarrassing.” She rose up to press their noses together, “I’m going with… embarrassing.” 

Damian clicked his tongue, “You might be right.” 

Giggling, Raven fully crawled into his lap. She pitched forward to peck his lips once, twice, “Tell me.”

The Bat sighed, his eyes rolling back and shutting as he ran a palm over his face. “Before we started dating,” He explained, “I didn’t realize _why_ I was feeling so odd when you were around.” Fighting back a grumble, Damian leaned against the couch’s cushions, taking Raven with him. His lips pressed against her temple, “I started documenting my symptoms.”

She tried to hold back her laughter but he felt it anyway. The swordsman glared down at her, “Not funny, _Habibti_.” Raven bit her lip and propped herself up on her elbows, tenderly gazing down at him. “Was this before or after you went to Dick for help?” Her smile was steadily morphing into a smirk at how his cheeks were reddening. 

“Before,” Damian grumbled, pulling her even further into his arms. Olive eyes lazily stared at the ceiling, his head slowing shaking as chuckles escaped out of his girlfriend. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, “What did you _think_ was happening?” Her lips quickly pressed a kiss to one of the scars on his neck, her smile widening when he paused, a sharp inhale filling the air at the move. 

“I thought our bond was poisoning me.” A peal of laughter bubbled out at his confession and Raven sat up straight, smothering her smile with her hand. Damian clicked his tongue at her and picked up the journal again. He casually flipped through the pages, skimming the neat script that he’d written back when they were both Titans. “You were making me vulnerable and I wasn’t used to actually… _caring_ about someone else.” 

“It’s terrifying, isn’t it?” Raven’s voice wasn’t teasing but nostalgic. Damian blinked at her and she seemed to make up her mind about something. Pecking his cheek again, she held up a finger, “Wait a sec.” 

Crouching down, the mage rummaged through the box again then took to the air, levitating over the unopened boxes and smoothly prying the tops apart. Damian rested his shoulder on the couch’s top, watching her curiously. After a minute, Raven gasped and straightened up, a rolled up poster in her grasp. 

She floated down next to him and took a deep breath. 

“Okay,” Her voice was low as she murmured out, “I unroll on three.”

One eye peeked open to ensure that she had her boyfriend’s full attention, but still she had to warn, “Before you laugh, remember that it’s all about _vulnerability_. Right, Darling?” Damian raised a brow but nodded, “Another old memento from when we were Titans?”

“One that I couldn’t bare to throw out,” Raven closed her eye again and softly counted out, “Okay, here I go. One, two, three.” 

Damian blinked as the poster unfurled, a hand coming up to rub his chin and cover his mouth. It did absolutely _nothing_ to keep his amusement hidden from his love’s empathy. Raven let out a groan and buried her face against his shoulder, letting the lipstick-covered poster fall on his lap. 

Damian fully smirked down at the younger version of his face, most of Robin’s mask smeared with black and violet lipstick marks. He rolled his jaw and pressed a kiss to the empath’s hairline, “Vulnerability?”

“I acted like a preteen in a coming of age romance movie.” Damian couldn’t hold back his snickers at her assessment, nodding as he peppered kisses from her temple to her ear. After a moment he paused, her words sinking in, “When you say ‘preteen’...”

Raven sighed, her head falling back and her hands coming up to cover her face, “I bought it _after_ you joined the Titans.” 

A bark of laughter escaped Damian and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, his shoulders shaking as Raven let out a whine and poked his side. Her lips trembled as giggles bubbled up out of her. After a minute they tried to catch their breath, their laughter dwindling to quiet chuckles. 

Violet eyes flicked from the journal on the couch to the box sitting in front of them, “Have any other embarrassing stuff from before we were dating?” 

Damian lazily looked at her, “Do you?”

Raven bit her lip and her eyes flicked from the box to his face. She smiled, leaning up to kiss him instead of answering.


	20. Bed Overload II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Domestic prompt 18: A new mattress_

Raven leaned her head on Damian’s shoulder as she sipped her tea, her eyes narrowing as she stared at the aisles upon aisles of mattresses. He clicked his tongue as he took in all the sizes. After a moment, his olive eyes narrowed, “None of these are big enough.”

The mage casually walked through the ‘king’ section, rolling her bottom lip between her teeth. Lazily, she glanced over her shoulder at Damian, “None of these will fit BatCow by herself, let alone both of us with her.” The mage sat on the edge of an overly plush mattress, bouncing a bit as she got comfortable. Her feet prodded at the boxspring, “And this one definitely won’t fit either.”

A lazy smirk curled on her lips as Damian strolled in front of her and held out his hand. She leaned forward to kiss his knuckles but made no move to get up, “What should we do?” Violet hair shifted as she rolled her shoulders and let her head fall back. Staring up at the ceiling, Raven hummed out, “All the other stores will have the same sizes.” 

Damian rolled his jaw, “And I doubt specialty stores will have huge beds.” 

They stared at each other for a moment. Damian watched as an idea brightened his girlfriend’s face and she sat up, resting her hands on her knees. “We can buy directly from the manufacturer,” Grinning as the Bat raised a brow, she grabbed his hand and pulled him down until they were face to face. 

“You’re a Wayne, _Habibi_. I’m sure they’ll fall over themselves to make the sale.”

“Financially holding up a mattress factory isn’t the most romantic idea for a date.” Still, he pulled her up and intertwined their fingers. He turned to leave, keeping his head down to avoid catching a salesperson’s attention. Raven glanced at the mattress tags as they walked to the door and punched the address into her phone. 

Her face lit up, “This one’s in Gotham.” 

Damian tapped her thigh, “I’ll drive.”

\--

“Oh don’t worry, Mr. Wayne. We can have a mattress for you before the day’s end! Special reinforced box spring included!” 

Raven smiled thankfully at the man, leaning against Damian’s shoulder as he paid for their purchase. She turned her head to watch as the box spring’s dimensions were mapped out on the screen, the rectangle large enough to hold all of their pets. 

Approximately six hours and fourteen minutes later, the two stood in front of their gigantic new mattress. Raven covered her smile behind her hand as she craned her neck up to look at it; propped up against the wall, the mattress’ eight foot width was only eclipsed by its eleven foot height. “Do you realize how many blankets we’ll need? Darling,” Raven batted her eyes up at her boyfriend, “There’s gonna be so much cuddling.”

Damian smirked as he signed off for delivery, calculating how much space all of their pets would take up. “You know,” He murmured out, a grin starting to spread over his lips, “We could fit a few more animals if we really wanted to.”

“No more.” 

He rubbed his chin, “BatCow won’t even take up a _quarter_ of the bed.”

Raven let out a groan that morphed into a laugh, “I mean it, Darling.” 

“We could section of another quarter for a nest and get a few dozen more birds.”

“Oh, my goodness.” Damian ignored how she palmed her face in faux exasperation, unable to hold back the beginnings of a smile. Instead, he added, “Maybe even add a few chickens in the mix.” 

The mage raised a brow, “Chickens need open space to roam.” 

“Good idea. We’ll get a pig or three, too.”

Damian shot her a lopsided smile, leaning down to steal a kiss. Raven eagerly returned the affection, humming as they separated. Violet bore into olive and she pointed at him, “We’ll add on to our zoo of an apartment but if there’s _any_ poop in the bed you’re cleaning it up.”

He kissed the pale tip of her finger, “And if I come to bed late I’ll let you steal all the blankets with no fuss.” 

Raven snorted at that, leaning up to kiss him again. 

“Deal?”

“Deal.”


	21. Bed Overload III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompt 34: “That’s the worst reason I’ve ever heard to have a baby.”_

Raven sighed happily as she flipped a few pages back in her book, rereading her favorite scene again. A lazy smile curled her lips as she took in the dramatic shift in color from the more well-worn pages and her chin raised as the door opened. Damian’s aura easily filled the room, mingling with hers as Titus bounded around the couch and sat at her feet, his chin resting on her knee and his eyes expectant. 

The mage bit back a laugh and scratched behind his ears, sneakily teleporting a dog biscuit for him out of Damian’s sight. The Great Dane had almost certainly been pampered during his walk, but what was a little more?

“Let’s have a baby.” 

Raven’s fingers went slack and her book dropped to the floor, startling Titus; he stooped down to take his treat and trotted off, content. Raven, on the other hand, was incredulous. She turned her head and stared at her husband, trying to keep her mouth from falling open. Although her arched brows should’ve been questioning enough, she somehow voiced a simple, “Excuse me?”

Damian was completely unfazed by her reaction to his completely out-of-the-blue question. “A baby,” He clarified, walking over and sitting down next to her. Casually, as if they weren’t talking about a _huge_ step in their relationship, he pulled her feet into his lap and grabbed her hand, kissing the inside of her wrist. Softly, he picked up her forgotten book and ensured that the bookmark was secure before glancing up at his wife’s face.

Their eyes met. 

Raven took a shaky breath in, a bit overwhelmed at the emotion that flooded the room and her heart. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips and she voiced the obvious, “You’ve thought about this a lot.”

“I have.” 

She didn’t bother trying to hide how her fingers trembled, instead letting her head fall back against the couch’s top. “Can I ask how long?”

The sound of him biting his cheek, “A few months after our honeymoon.”

“Pfft,” Raven let out an incredulous sound, somewhere in between a laugh and a sigh, “Took you almost two years to bring it up?” 

Olive eyes looked over her for a second, a small curl forming on his lips at how Raven wasn’t necessarily responding negatively. So, he scooted closer and pulled at her sweater’s neckline, pecking her shoulder. 

His wife giggled at the attention, leaning down to steal a kiss. Humming as she pulled away, she murmured, “I hope you realize getting a child won’t be like a picking up a stray. I _refuse_ to push out a human zoo.” 

Damian clicked his tongue, amused, “No more than ten.” 

“That better be natural _and_ adopted.” 

He hid his smirk in another kiss. Raven didn’t let him have more than a peck, bringing her finger up in between their lips. “I mean it, Darling. When it comes to cute small creatures, you’re prone to hoarding.”

“Pfft,” Now he was the one blowing raspberries, “Wouldn’t you agree that Titus needs a playmate?”

“That was your last excuse.” 

“And we ended up happy, don’t forget.” He punctuated that by kissing the underside of her jaw.

Her eyes rolled, “With over ten more pets.” 

“What better reason than to let them have a human companion their age?”

She couldn’t smother her laugh, her chuckles slipping out behind her hand, “That’s the worst reason I’ve ever heard to have a baby.” Rather than respond, Damian pulled her fully into his arms, peppering a cluster of kisses from her hairline to her chin, “I know you too well, _Habibti_. You’re considering it…” 

Raven let out a little high pitched hum, nuzzling down against his collar. “Maybe.”

Her amethyst eyes were shining as she peeked up at him, smiling as he beamed down at her. Her fingers traced his dimple and her words rushed out, “I _do_ want to have kids, but give me a little while to think on it, okay?”

Damian chuckled at her words and picked up her left hand, kissing the ring on her finger, “No rush, Beloved. We have the rest of our lives.”


	22. Gala Dialogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompt 5: “This sword is meant for decoration, not stabbing!”_

“Hey there, Sweet Sugar Cakes.”

“... Pardon? Are you talking to me?”

“I don’t really know _how_ a fine girl like yourself doesn’t have a man on her arm, but I can certainly take that spot.”

“Um, _wow_. Uhh no, no… No thanks.”

“Aww, c’mon Babe.”

“Wheeeelp, I’m leaving. Don’t follow me and don’t ever call me that again.”

“You sure you’re not up for a _little_ fun? These galas can get a little boring. Especially if you’re not hanging with the right people.”

“ _Ahem_. She already said no.”

“Who the fuck’re-- Oh. _oh_. Uhhh, sorry man. I mean, uh, Damian, right?”

“Correct. Now leave.”

“Right… cool. But you see I was talking to this girl right here and--”

“I said _leave_.”

“...”

“Not that I don’t appreciate it, but you _do_ know I could’ve handled that myself, right?”

“Of course you could. I wouldn’t date just a pretty face.”

“Huh. This flattering, chivalrous look kinda suits you, Bird Boy. Wanna take me to the hors d'oeuvres table?”

“Do you plan on drowning your boredom in finger sandwiches?”

“...Maybe.”

\--

“Ugh, not this again…”

“Soooo, did the Wayne kid ditch you? I’ll be sure to give him my condolences over going blind.”

“Stop talking.”

“Really? Can’t I get a smile, at least?”

“No. Now you stay here and I’ll leave so I can eat my cannoli in peace.”

“But Dollface…”

“Ignoring you.”

“Wait… wait up! Jeez how are you walking so fast…?”

“Oh, there you are _Habibti_. I --where are you going?”

“Hey there, Damian.”

“Not you again. And it’s Mister Wayne to you.”

“Sure thing, Mister Wayne. Well, I better get going…”

“You should’ve already been gone. I told you to leave half an hour ago.”

“Well, my girl was just playing a bit hard to get and I--”

“ _Your_ girl?”

“Uhhh well, I-- _oh_... heheh… I guess she’s with you, then?”

“Yes, she is. Now _leave_ before I escort you out.”

“Weeeeell, _Mister Wayne_ , I don’t know if you should get to hog her for yourself. Especially when you’re never around. Let the girl live a little with someone on the side, y’know?”

“...”

“Ohmyfuckinggod! Somebody help me!”

“Master Damian! What _are_ you doing?!”

“ _Why you little_ …”

“Damian! Hey there, Darling. How about we go over here, huh. Like, right away.”

“Beloved, let me go.”

“That sword is meant for _decoration_ , not stabbing.” 

“ _Habibti_ , this is the _worst_ possible time.” 

“It’s _your_ rule!”

“Pennyworth made the rule.” 

“Doesn’t matter, no stabbing at the gala!”

“You’re right… A punch will do.”

“I doubt your dad will like all these reporters seeing that.”

“Tt, I can sneak into Fort Knox without being detected. Making this imbecile stay away from you isn’t nearly as challenging.”

“Oh _Azar_ …”

“Look, he’s trying to hide in the bathrooms. Let me _go_ , Raven.”

“Nope. Let’s go back and tell Mr. Pennyworth. He’ll be sure that that creep is escorted out _and_ we won’t have to worry about someone seeing you beating him senseless.”

“Just a simple escort out isn’t _nearly_ satisfying enough.” 

“Well, yeah. But cuddling once we can get out of these stuffy clothes certainly is.”

“Hmmm…”

“I know that look, _Habibi_. You know that I’m right.”

“...I suppose that you are.”

“Ready to get going then? We can hide out on the balcony for a while.” 

“Sure. Let’s go.” 

“Wait, Darling.”

“What?”

“Give me the sword.” 

“Tt, I was going to put it away in its case again.”

“ _Yeah_ , no sneaky stabbing in your very near future _whatsoever_ , huh?”

“... Very well. But I-- _mmph_!”

“Mmhmm... It’s cute how bad you are at pretending that you don’t have murderous thoughts.”

“Tt.”


	23. Visit From the (Soon to Be) In-Laws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompt 10: The in-laws come to visit_

Damian sat on the edge of the bed as he watched his girlfriend pace. Disregarding the fact that she was floating a few inches above the floor (because really, pacing was more the frantic direction than if one was actually _on_ the ground), he leaned forward to rest his chin atop his fist. He gnawed on the inside of his chin, mentally going over his checklist for the eighth time in the past half hour. 

A foot behind him Titus was laying just an inch away from the pillows and Alfred the Cat rested on his spine. Alfred wasn’t purring, but he arched his back to stretch when Titus’ tail began to wag. The animals were content; and why wouldn’t they be? _They_ had no need to be concerned about how tonight went. _They_ weren’t going to entertain Bruce and Selina the whole night (although Alfred would _certainly_ help with the latter). They also didn’t have to worry about how the “world’s greatest detective” (second greatest, in Damian’s humble opinion) would respond to their new apartment. 

He knew the time, but his olive eyes glanced at the clock just to be sure, _18:47_. Damian let out a breath and stood. Raven’s form dropped a quarter of an inch as her eyes flicked to him for just a moment; a second passed and she resumed her pacing, the tip of her feet brushing against the rug. “They’ll be here soon,” She murmured, her pupils wide as quarters as her lower lip rolled in between her teeth. 

“And they’ll be impressed at how settled we are already,” Damian finished for her. He ignored her nervous, incredulous snort and stood in front of her. The mage let out a little sigh as he grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers. A thin smile cracked her lips as he brought their hands up to kiss her knuckles. 

She rubbed her thumb over one of the scars that adorned his palm before she spoke, “I hope they’ll like me.” 

“You’ve met them both already. Many times before, in fact.”

“That was different,” Her forehead dropped to rest on his.

Despite himself, Damian let a grin start to split his lips as he reminded her, “You practically lived at the Manor last winter.”

“We weren’t living together then.” 

“But we _were_ already dating then,” He ran his palms up and down her arms before leaning up to peck her mouth, “They already love you and they love how happy you make me. We’re going to be fine, I promise.” A smile quirked her lips at his words and he pecked her lips again. 

A loud sigh slid out of her, “Alright, you’re right.” Another sigh. She rolled her shoulders to prepare herself, “What time is it now?”

“We have three minutes.” 

“Do you think Selina won’t let them arrive unless it’s fashionably late?” Damian snorted at the question, “Father hates being late. They might even be early.” As if on cue, a knock sounded on the door. 

Raven’s back straightened at the sound. “They’re gonna love me,” she murmured, more for herself than anything. Damian grinned and pressed a quick, proper kiss to her lips. He went to check that everything was set one last time as Raven flew to the door. 

Her brows furrowed at only feeling one aura; cautiously, she opened the door and let out a gasp, her eyes rising to meet the woman’s gaze. A gaze that was the same shade as her lover’s eyes, but nowhere near the same shape; no, Damian had many of Bruce’s features, that much was obvious. 

“Ah, _Marhba_! You must be Raven.” Talia al Ghul beamed at her son’s girlfriend, her grin widening at Damian’s choked grunt of surprise at the sound of her voice. Before he could approach, she held out her hand, “I’m Talia, Damian’s mother.” 

Blinking incredulously, the mage timidly shook her hand, hoping to Azar and every deity she could think of that no poison was placed on her palm. Damian came up behind her, a hand instinctively and protectively going to the small of her back. Before he could speak, his father’s voice practically growled out, “What the _fuck_ are you doing here?”

Talia raised a brow as she turned her head, taking in the sight of Bruce and Selina standing there. Well, Bruce was standing. And although he was tensed, ready for a fight, Selina looked murderous as she crouched against the railing. Whether it was merely from seeing the al Ghul in the flesh or if it was her presence outside her son’s apartment, Talia frankly didn’t care. She waved aside the older couple, turning back to Raven, “I was under the impression you were meeting Damian’s parents tonight.”

Her tanned hands were empty as she held them up, as placating as she could allow herself to be, “So, I’d figure it was time that we met.” 

Damian glanced at his girlfriend and quickly met her gaze, leaving the decision up to her. Raven took in a deep breath and moved aside, “There will be no fighting and no attempts to kill or maim anyone whatsoever tonight.” Her short hair fluttered as she leaned forward to take in the looks on Bruce and Selina’s faces, “We can at least _pretend_ that no one has tried to murder the other, right?” Her words weren’t a question but a demand. 

Forcing a thin smile on her face, Raven lightly tapped her boyfriend on the hip and let the door swing completely open. 

\--

Awkward wasn’t even a _word_ anymore.

Raven quietly took a sip of her tea, a small smile on her lips as Talia complimented her taste in literature; the deadly woman was casually looking around their apartment, her fingers sliding along the many books that piled on her bookshelves. Selina had lightened up with Alfred purring in her lap, although she and Bruce kept exchanging glances. 

Damian had put it upon himself to never let Talia have a direct shot at Raven, his nervousness and his protectiveness weaving throughout his aura as Raven stood when the over timer sounded; dinner was ready. 

Bruce opened the bottle of wine and Talia eagerly took the open seat right next to where the mage would sit. Damian and Selina’s eyes met for just a second before Raven returned with the salad bowl in her arms and the side dishes engulfed in her black magic. As everyone settled down, Raven sat up straight and made a show of teleporting everyone’s knives onto their napkins.

Talia smirked at the move, tilting her lifted glass towards the young couple in a toast, “To a wonderful night of meeting the lovely couple.” The four others joined her and their glasses sounded together, the _clink! clink! clink!_ making Titus’ ears lift up. 

Underneath the table, Raven grabbed Damian’s hand and intertwined her fingers. His thumb rubbed her knuckles and she hid her smile with a sip of wine as his previous words reverberated in her mind, _They already love you and they love how happy you make me._

She squeezed his hand and he squeezed back, _We’re going to be fine, I promise._


	24. Band-aids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompt 4: “You look like you need a band-aid.”_

Raven rolled her jaw as Damian made yet another circuit around the medical bay. She let out a grunt as she forced herself to sit up in the cot, her fingertips rubbing at the seams of the cast on her leg.

His eyes flicked to her when she sighed and leaned her head back against the headboard. Her lips silently mouthed her mantra for a few moments, then her eyes widened again. The mage’s pupils were wide, still dilated and a bit hazy from the morphine that Kory insisted she take, as she looked over Robin’s form and the small injuries that marred his suit. 

The corners of her mouth quirked down as she noted where blood had stained the green of his gloves, “You look like you need a band-aid.”

Damian clicked his tongue at that, his tense steps leading him to her side. He looked over her wrapped injuries again, a smidge of his tension slipping away at the sight of her wounds already starting to heal themselves. Raven watched as he shifted his weight, the nervous tendrils lessening their grip on his aura. 

“Are you sure that you’re okay?” He looked down worriedly at her and, even in her loopy state, Raven was privy to the fact that Damian was acting unusual. However, she didn’t need full mental capability to know _why_. 

“You must really care about me, huh?” Too far gone to notice how he tensed at her words, she continued on, “You _never_ just stay in one place after we finish a mission. Much less dote on someone after they’re already in the med bay.”

She beamed at him, an uncharacteristic but genuine grin that brightened her features and made his heart skip a beat. “I’m glad that you do. I care about you a lot, too.” Damian raised a brow but took her offered hand. She nudged his arm and he brought their hands up to her face, sharply inhaling as she kissed the bare, bloody skin of his knuckles. 

Wide eyed, he blinked a few times in quick succession, begging for his brain to reboot. After what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few seconds, Damian shook his head and cleared his throat, “Well, uh-- I… I better get going,” He quickly mumbled, aghast at how fast his face flooded with heat at the goth’s impulsive move. Raven noticed but didn’t seem to comprehend _why_ he was so flustered. 

Instead, she squeezed his hand once before letting his hand slip out of hers, sleepily blinking as he took a few steps back. “I.. I better go back to the common room,” Damian winced, wondering how long it’d been since his voice last cracked like that. The mage only nodded, shooting a wide, lopsided smile his way. 

The swordsman’s heart did another flip and he awkwardly patted her leg once, then turned 180 degrees on his heel and stiffly stalked out of the room. Raven giggled as she watched him go, “ _Goddess_ , you’re cute.”

His steps faltered for a fraction of a second at her words but he continued on, not pausing until the door slid shut behind him. Damian ran a palm over his face, rubbing at his overheated cheeks and remembering the annoying sing-song sound of Grayson’s ‘prophetic’ teasing on his future relationships, “Oh, no.”

The image of Raven’s smile was fresh in his mind’s eye and he gnawed on the inside of his cheek as something in his stomach flipped, glad that she was too doped up to feel the confused, embarrassed frenzy of his emotions. He was being ridiculous. They were _teammates_ , and nothing was going to change that. 

But she had called him _cute_. And had kissed his knuckles. 

He straightened his back and rubbed at his eyes, trudging his way to the common room. He didn’t notice as Garfield tried to get his attention, lost in thought about a certain witch who’d called him cute. Whose lips had touched his bleeding knuckles, uncaring about the blood. The very same one who’d beamed a gorgeous smile his way. 

Father always advocated against dating within teams and, like most of his team-based rules, Damian followed them since they were logical. But _nothing_ was logical about the way his stomach twisted and turned whenever Raven was near. Nothing made sense for _why_ his heart had flipped so violently at the sight (and even the _memory_ ) of her smile. 

His lips turned down at the thought; his heart must’ve torn by now because it was certainly bleeding. Raven was right, he _did_ need a band-aid.

And if Raven was right, maybe Father was wrong...


	25. Warm Sheets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompt 21: Warm sheets_

Raven pouted as she rolled over, unabashedly yanking a large portion of Damian’s covers onto her freezing limbs. She missed the feel of his arms wrapped around her but it was too damn cold! Sluggishly, she wrapped herself into a cocoon and leaned against his chest, grumbling against his goosebump-less skin. 

How could he sleep when the room was one step away from being an ice cube? Raven grumbled some more, burrowing even further against his side. It wasn’t as if her preferred 76 degrees was too hot. 

Rubbing her feet against Damian’s leg wasn’t enough so, after a quick minute of hyping herself up, Raven wrapped the blanket as securely over herself and stood. Too tired to levitate, she slid her feet into her slippers and plodded over to the wall. Inhaling sharply at the temperature -- honestly, who can sleep when the room was _58 degrees!_ \-- her violet eyes turned to her boyfriend, astounded that he didn’t even seem bothered by the cold.

As she set the room to a reasonable 72 degrees, a foggy picture of a certain cartoon crab popped into her mind and she snickered out, “Don’t touch me thermostat.” Giggling at her own joke, Raven didn’t try to stop her yawn as she hastily made her way back to the bed. She paused just before taking off her slippers, her face brightening as an idea popped into her mind. 

Quietly, she tiptoed through the door and headed for the laundry room.

After nearly thirty minutes of their room gradually heating up, Damian grumbled and turned over in his sleep, his arm feeling around for his girlfriend. When sheets that had gone cold was all that he found, the swordsman’s eyes creaked open. He rolled onto his back, listening to the beep as the dryer’s cycle ended. The mage’s footsteps were familiar as he heard her come back into their room. 

Olive eyes turned to sleepily stare at her as she dropped the warm sheets onto the bed. Raven winked at him before turning back to the thermostat, setting the temperature to a still-absurd but much more manageable 60 degrees. Satisfied when the fan began its soothing whirring, she hastened towards the bed and crawled in next to her lover. 

A happy huff left her as she tucked her fingers around his back, her cold limbs beginning to heat up again, “Oooh, warm.” 

Damian snorted at her eloquence, turning on his side and pulling her girlfriend firmly into his arms. He hummed when she tucked her nose in the crook of his neck, her lips ghosting over a scar on his collar, “Ready to go back to sleep, _Habibti_?” 

“Remind me to set an alarm for the dryer,” She mumbled, her eyes already fluttering shut as she punctuated her request with another yawn. “Warm sheets are the best.” 

Damian closed his eyes and listened to the whir of the AC, lazily tracing his name in Arabic along the skin of her back, “Better than cuddling?”

Raven tapped his hip, her shoulders wriggling as she tried and failed to hold back her small laugh, “Stop being cute I wanna sleep.”

He tucked in his chin and kissed her hairline, “Of course, my Beloved. I’ll set the alarm in the morning.”

“Mmkay. Night, Darling.”

“It’s technically morning, _Hiyati_.” He smiled as she tapped his side again, playfully grumbling against his skin, “Too early to be this cute.”


	26. Reminiscing II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompt 23: Going through old boxes_

Damian let a smile slide over his lips as he laid down on their bed, feeling Titus curl up near his legs. His hands tucked under his head and his eyes shut as he took a deep breath in, enjoying the muffled sound of Raven rummaging around the boxes in the living room. 

Titus’ head lifted as the mage quietly walked in. Damian peeked an eye open as his girlfriend laid on top of him. Raven’s face was expectant and she held up his old journal, her pupils wide. He stared at her, keeping any ounce of emotion off his face but she stared back, unrelenting. 

After ten seconds, Titus got bored and went back to sleep. After another ten seconds, Raven let her face fall into a pout. After three seconds of _that_ , Damian cracked. 

He held up a finger, “I translate one page.” 

Raven cooed as she leaned down to peck his lips once, twice, giggling into their kiss. They both knew that he’d translate as many pages as she wanted, but neither said anything. Instead, the mage glanced down to ensure that she wouldn’t disturb Titus and then curled up against her boyfriend’s side. 

The witch opened the journal to the middle, where some of the pages were wrinkled and well worn. “You went back to these a lot,” She noted, resting her cheek above his heart. “What do they say?”

Damian let out a groan, already knowing _exactly_ what words lay on the page. He tossed an arm over his eyes, feeling Raven’s amusement as she tried to contain her chuckles, “Well?”

He let the book rest on his chest and kept his eyes shut, the words that he’d written and read hundreds of times rolling on the tip of his tongue. Raven tapped the back of his hand and he spoke, “ _Why does she make my heart pound so fast? I have to be professional. I don’t care what Kory says; I’ve been the team leader for nearly three years. We are teammates, but I can’t help but think that I want more._ ” 

He felt a wave of surprise and giddiness through their bond. Raven pressed her lips against his pulse, the pads of her fingertips sliding down the journal’s spine and onto the defined planes of his chest, “ _But language like that is_ dangerous. _I can’t afford to have a weakness, it’ll put her in danger. And my… infatuation is only for me. What about her_?” 

Damian lifted his arm and she trailed her kisses up, her lips smiling against the underside of his jaw as he continued, “ _I’ve kept this longing to myself; of course she has no reason to think about if she’d ever want to be with me. It’s unfair of me to do this. I shouldn’t think of her when I’m alone. I shouldn’t want to kiss her. I shouldn’t want to hold her hand_.” 

Raven scooted even further into his side as he let out a breath. His head sunk into the pillow and he sighed again, “ _She’s not mine, therefore I can’t be jealous_.” The demoness stilled with her lips against his ear, the skin already darkening with his blush, “ _I can’t tell Garfield and Wally to stop hovering around her during team bonding and I can’t tell Jon that I only see her as a teammate. I can’t tell Grayson that his advice is useless and that all it does is inspire false confidence_.”

His fingers wrapped around her waist and fiddled with the hem of her tank top, “ _She’s not mine, but I want her to be_.” The swordsman turned on his side and kissed her hairline, being careful to not crumple the journal. 

Titus let out a yawn and Alfred padded into the room, stretching as he went. Aside from them, the room was quiet for a moment, then Raven sniffled. Damian raised his head, alarmed at the sound, “ _Habibti_ are you--” 

“ _Azar_ you’re a dramatic sap.” The mage leaned up on her elbows, her eyes a bit glassy. She blinked at her boyfriend and licked her trembling lips. Raven kissed the corner of his mouth, her giggles muffled against his skin, “I love you, too.”

Damian cradled her cheek and pulled her into a proper kiss, his fingers tangling in her hair as she nibbled on his lower lip. 

“I love you,” He murmured, his smile deepening the dimple on his chin. Raven walked her fingers down to the old journal and brought it back up. “Anything else in here, Darling?” Her voice was sweet as she slowly peppered kisses over his face. Damian drummed his fingers on her hip, remembering all that he’d written on those yellowed pages. 

“Go to the very end. I… I used to draw small pictures sometimes.”

“Really?” Raven quickly flipped past the pages, cooing as she stumbled upon a tiny sketch of herself. She rested her temple against Damian’s, her grin widening as she admired all the drawings that graced the back pages of his journal. 

She was a constant muse, but Titus, Dick, and Jon were common features. 

Damian pressed his lips to her hairline again, “You like them?”

Raven laughed incredulously at his question, stating the obvious, “Of course I do! This is really unfair, _Habibi_.”

He raised a brow, “Unfair?”

She tangled their legs together, a teasing smirk on her face, “You can’t be this talented. You gotta save some for the rest of us.” Playful, olive eyes rolled at her teasing and Damian tilted his face down to kiss her again.


	27. Comfy Car Ride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompt 125: You're ridiculously comfortable..._

Damian stared out the car window as they drove back to the Tower, biting back a sigh as he noted that the sun was beginning to set. Beside him, Raven was fiddling with her nails as she sneakily stretched her legs, just barely listening to Jaime and Garfield prattling on about something. 

The goth leaned against Damian, languidly drawing patterns on the sleeve of his hoodie as she listened to Kory talk about going cherry picking next Thursday. These mandatory Team Bonding Thursdays were harmless enough; being a bit drowsy at the beginning of night patrol wasn’t all that big of a deal. 

Damian tried to stay still as Raven rested against him, trying his hardest to keep his breaths even as her fingers trailed down to his hand, tracing the scars that marred his skin. The mage tilted her chin and sleepily pressed a kiss just below his ear, grinning as he shifted away from the window. 

He turned his face up to look at her and raised a brow, hoping that she didn’t notice how his ears were starting to burn at the attention. Her brows jumped up and down as she smirked at him, winking as she leaned in to kiss the corner of his mouth. 

Raven curled up next to him and rested her cheek against his temple. Damian moved with her, comfortably tucking his face in her neck. He kissed her pulse once and closed his eyes, a smirk slowly curling his lips. “You don’t seem like someone who likes PDA that much,” His voice was low, hidden under the sounds of their teammates’ singing along to the radio. 

“Can’t help it.” Raven pecked his hairline and sunk further into his warmth, “You’re just ridiculously comfortable.” 

“Tt,” Damian clicked his tongue at that. Still, his hand slid down to intertwine with hers, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. Raven giggled, “You know it’s true, _Habibi_.” The mage grinned when all he did was hum at her words, settling back down as they cuddled some more.


	28. Demon Acquisition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompt: “I probably should have thought about the consequences of selling my soul first.”_

Letting nine drops of blood drip from his thumbs to the candles’ lit wicks, one Damian al Ghul crouched over his handiwork. The blood made the fires turn purple and he leaned back on his haunches, waiting to see if the deal was accepted. 

Damian furrowed his brows as, not even a minute after the thought came to him, he watched the demoness rise from her pool of ashes, strands of smoke billowing off her. Her four eyes were dark and calculating, her pupils large blips of nothingness and her sclera red as blood. The demon tilted her head and bared her teeth at him, the jagged fangs sliding against each other. The sound would’ve sent a shiver down a weaker human’s spine, but Damian stayed firm. 

The protective salt barrier did nothing and she stepped over it. Her steps sounded heavy on the floor, although she moved as lithe as any assassin. She circled Damian once and stopped in front of him. The swordsman tensed his jaw as the strands of smoke darkened, the inky tendrils of black magic snapping in the air between them. 

After a moment, she leaned back and smirked. A quick flick of her hand had all the candles snuffing out and Damian noted how her form shifted in the sudden darkness. “Consider the deal done,” She drawled, her magic crackling loudly in the quiet of the room. The overhead lights clicked on a moment after and he blinked, his eyes adjusting to the sudden brightness and her new form.

Two amethyst eyes and pale skin greeted the assassin as she stood to her full height, an inch or two taller than him. He ignored how surprisingly and distractingly attractive she was, instead focusing on how the dots of blood on his thumbs sizzled off into a puff of mulberry-colored smoke. 

She held out a hand, suspiciously human and barren of the claws that had just adorned them, “You may call me Raven.” 

Remembering his grandfather’s warning, Damian stooped down and rubbed the bloody candle-wax onto his palm before he shook the demoness’ hand. Any disappointment she had at his cautiousness was drowned out by how impressive he appeared. “Hmm,” Raven released his hand and casually walked around the room, running her fingers over the tapestries that hung on the walls, “You know to cover your palms and to keep weapons out of my line of sight, interesting that you’d need a demon’s help in _any_ endeavor.” 

Violet hair shifted as she glanced at the young man over her shoulder, “Especially to the point of selling your soul.” Turning back around, she narrowed her eyes at the writing on the books’ spines, trying to decipher which Earth language it was, “Must be important.”

“I need you to do something for me,” Damian didn’t touch her, although he did motion for the demoness to walk towards the high table off to the side. “It cannot be done by mortals, unfortunately, no matter how powerful they are in the dark arts.” 

Raven pitched forward as she took in the ancient inscriptions and tattered remnants of a _particular_ rune, one that her father had put an herculean amount of effort in containing until _just_ the right moment in time. An eager grin slid onto her face at the idea of disrupting Trigon’s carefully chaotic plans, the sight worrisome and _dangerous_ in the dark shadows of the room. 

“Perhaps I can do this … of course, only if you’d do something for me?” Her question was a demand and she rested her elbow on the counter, sticking her bottom out just a smidge. The assassin begrudgingly followed her movements, ensuring that she didn’t get close to any of the hidden weapons and that his eyes didn’t stray.

Still, he set his shoulders and stood in front of her, glaring at the crackles of black magic that seemed to slide off of her. A tendril slid out and hovered near where a shielded machete lay, considering the weapon. Without giving her time to react, Damian pounced, pinning her by her hips. He let the tip of his sword nick against her pulse, his other hand holding hers in place.

Raven paused, a brow raising at the movement. She smirked down at Damian, her eyes flicking from his lips to the blade on her throat and back again. In an instant, her teeth sharpened and she pitched forward, softly cooing as a thin trickle of blood ran down the blade, “I probably should have mentioned that soul acquisition is a two way street.”

His olive eyes narrowed and she smirked even wider, unconcerned with the drops of blood pooling at their feet, “You’re stuck with me and I with you, _Syd Damian_.” Damian’s force on the blade weakened at the title and Raven surged forward, stopping half an inch from his face. Her pale fingers wiped her blood off his sword as she brushed their noses together.

A sound rumbled in his chest, “I probably should have thought about the consequences of selling my soul first, then.” 

The demoness chuckled, pressing their foreheads together and sidling up flush against his chest. Their eyes met despite the angle and she languidly stole a kiss off his lips, lightly biting his bottom lip when he jumped in surprise. 

A low, raspy laugh escaped her and she ran her thumb over the edge of his blade again, “You really should’ve.”


	29. Demon Acquisition II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompt 6: “Isn’t it beautifully chaotic, today?”_

Damian couldn’t keep the curiosity off his face as he stared at the sky. 

The once silent hideout was bustling with heavy footsteps, assassins of many shapes and talents scurrying around to prepare themselves. The Justice League would track them, certainly. They had enough mystics to figure out where all this disarray originated, but no combination of heroes was powerful enough to contain its destructive power.

Of course, to hold in that much evil would take someone stronger than any mortal, born of the Earth or not. 

But the Justice League didn’t know that. His eyes flicked to Raven, watching as she tilted her head back and let the discord course through her. He watched how black lightning crackled over her skin and followed the trail up to the curve of her neck. 

Turning back to the sky, he noted how the pockets of hellfire spread, sparks of interconnecting in the atmosphere like neurons in a brain. Honestly, he’d be impressed if the Justice League could even _approach_. But then again, the man who mother claimed to be his father would be a part of that crime-fighting brigade, maybe even leading them. A wicked grin split Damian’s lips at the thought; what better way to celebrate than beating the Bat into the ground?

Raven let out a growl. 

Damian turned to her, watching as the crimson markings on her pale skin took over, staining her whole body red. Despite the snowy hair that brushed over her face, the demon focused all four eyes on him. Emerald eyes flicked from her eyes to her inky lips to the sky, watching as the fire seemed to spread as the atmosphere darkened with smoke.

In the wake of the fiery scene, the whole world seemed to be quiet, anticipating for when the dam would break and chaos would flood in. 

The demoness shuddered and stepped forward, planting herself next to him. Her four eyes became two and her skin reverted back, the pale contrasting against his skin as she rested her elbow on his shoulder. Raven turned her face, smiling at the swordsman, “Isn’t it beautifully chaotic, today?”

He raised a brow, but couldn’t keep the amused smirk off his face, “It’s _your_ doing, Demon.” 

“Actually,” She slid forward and kissed below his ear, “It’s _our_ doing, _Syd Damian_.” 

She grinned as his smirk widened, forcing his dimple to show. Careful of her fangs, Raven kissed that dimple and rested her weight against him. Together, they watched as the fire seemed to crackle through the black clouds, resembling a pad of steel wool set alight. 

Amethyst eyes shut as a sudden, tightly woven mass of presences skirted the edge of her empathy. The demoness took in a deep breath and touched his hand, “The Justice League is almost here.” 

Damian nodded, turning back to the door, “I expect you to keep the rune’s magic constant. I cannot afford any weakness, Raven.” 

A hand on his arm made him pause and he turned to the woman, surprised by not unwilling for the firm kiss that she planted on his lips. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders as he deepened the kiss, his tan fingers digging into her hips. 

“Do not let this distract you from our mission,” Damian grumbled against her lips. Raven let out a bark of laughter at his words, pulling away and letting all four eyes glow. The assassin ran a thumb over her lips and she kissed the pad of skin, “You of all people should know that destruction can be _quite_ attractive.”

“I thought the term was ‘beautifully chaotic’?” He quoted her, stealing another kiss as she smirked. 

Her hands came up and cupped his chin, gleefully aware of how _easy_ it would be to snap his neck and painfully aware of how much she really didn’t want to kill him. Raven blamed the tiny bit of humanity in her, cursing the sentimentality that was causing her to be accustomed to his presence (and his kisses, although she would never admit that). 

The demoness bit her lip, “Destroy every last one of those heroes, _Syd Damian_. I’ll deal with the magical reinforcements.” 

He nodded and stalked to the door. Thinking better of the fight to be, Raven called to his back, “And finally kill that Bat Talia calls your father!” Damian didn’t respond, although they both knew the grin that her words caused. 

As the assassin set about organizing his own swords he caught sight of his mother and grandfather preparing, restocking their weapons and ensuring that the other assassins were properly armed. The sky crackled, pulsing black then gold then crimson again, and the booming echo of Raven’s cackling washed over all of them, the sound certainly reaching the approaching Justice League.

Damian paid the scene no mind, creeping forward to the base’s training yard. He spotted a black streak near the base’s weakest point and unsheathed one of his machetes. The feel of Raven’s mouth was still warm on his lips and he smirked, ready to fight as he caught sight of a certain masked man.

_This was going to be fun._


	30. Fidget Spinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompt: Raven giving Damian the purple fidget spinner he had on the Deathstroke issue cover._

He didn't like to be still. To be idle, to be static, was to waste time. His exact words, in fact, when she'd actually voiced her observation aloud once.

It was something she noticed early on into his time on the Titans, but especially once they'd become closer. If Damian couldn't train, go out on patrol, fight crime, dutifully recheck all reports submitted, or scribble in his journal at an almost frantic pace (while keeping his handwriting neat and tidy, somehow), he got restless. 

Always tense, prepared for a fight. Always ready to jump into action at half a second's notice. She supposed he needed to get the energy out in whatever way he could. Sometimes he'd drum his fingers on his leg, other times he'd gnaw the inside of his cheek; even rarer, he would rub the ends of his cape between his gloved fingers. If one didn’t know what to look for, they never would’ve guessed that the ever-composed and poker-faced Damian Wayne could be _antsy_.

But she could guess the fact; so, when Raven had spotted the toy in her favorite bookstore's checkout counter (that _just so happened_ to bear the same color as her eyes, although she hadn't planned that), her face had lit up and she'd wasted no time in buying it.

Damian had been dubious when he took the small box from her hands, a small quirk to his lips at the waffles on the wrapping paper. A brow arched over his olive eyes as he opened the box and took in the gift, “What is _this_?”

“It's a safety shuriken.”

He snorted at her cheekiness, his gaze flicking up to meet hers as she continued, “You're _thirteen_ , Bird Boy. You can't tell me you've never seen a fidget spinner before.”

“It’s a toy.”

She leaned her hip against the kitchen counter, smiling when he made no move to put his gift down, “It’s also purple.” Damian clicked his tongue at her and leaned over, stealing a sip of her tea. Lazily twirling the plastic around, his brows furrowed, “...How do I use this?” 

The goth grinned, sidling up next to him. She was having _entirely_ too much fun with this and Damian nudged her with his shoulder. Raven paid him no mind, instead wrapping both her hands around his one. He watched as she guided his fingers into the right position, her breath low near his ear as she explained, “It’s pretty easy. Just hold the center and spin the circle prongs around like this.”

She smiled and rested their cheeks together as he mimicked her hands’ movements, his ears burning as she shifted her weight until she was resting on his back in what was basically a hug. Still, he tried to play it cool, knowing that she would feel the shivers that tap-danced down his spine, “Seems useless. Just spinning something in my hand isn’t all that entertaining.” 

“At least it’s not idle,” Raven punctuated her remark with a soft kiss to his cheek, feeling as Damian stiffened underneath her, just barely catching the gasp before it left his throat. Her lips spread into a smile against his skin and he rolled his eyes, the blush creeping onto his cheeks. 

“Besides,” She drawled out, levitating around until she was in front of him, “Just holding something in your hands can be quite fun, don’t you think?” Her hands lazily trailed up his arms and around his shoulders as she spoke, her grin teasing and not at all subtle as she pulled him an inch closer. 

Damian’s olive eyes were amused, if embarrassed, as he caught her gaze again. He kept the fidget spinner in one hand and slid the other one into the small of her back, nervously smirking as their noses touched, “I...I suppose you’re right.”


	31. Another Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompts: “I know I’ve kissed you like, ten times, but just another ten, please”_ and _Who kisses the other on the nose and the one receiving the kiss blushes?_

Raven couldn’t quite pinpoint _when_ the shift had occurred between them. 

Sometime in between their ‘half-iversary’ (as Garfield was so eager to call it) and Damian’s nineteenth birthday. 

With her Robin now proudly bearing the Nightwing label, she’d thought he’d just gotten used to being as affectionate as Dick was. Maybe it was because of how similar they were; neither was used to physical affection either as children or adolescents, perhaps they were simply making up lost time. 

Hell, maybe everything was backwards and somehow the two of them were just a touchy-feely couple. If they could surprise themselves by falling in love then nothing could truly shock them.

Or perhaps it was a combination of the three. 

Either way, Raven was admittedly a fan of all the touches, of all the kisses. Even without her empathy, even without knowing the ins and outs of Damian’s mind, even without her years of learning his quirks and tells, she knew that he was a fan too. 

And why wouldn’t he be? Why wouldn’t she? They were the most secretive of the group and held quite a few distinct honors.

How many people could count themselves as someone she had pulled into her shadows, her pupils as wide as quarters as she impatiently stole a kiss? How many people knew that he all but _purred_ when someone traced the shell of his ear and scratched at his scalp, letting him sleep on their lap after patrol? How many people could claim to know the exact _pitch_ of whine that escaped her whenever a pair of lips found their way to just under her jawline? How many people knew that the scars on his palms and ribs were the most sensitive, but the ones on his back were the most ticklish, particularly when kissed? 

Exactly. Being hit or kicked or punched during training and patrol was one thing, being kissed or caressed or squeezed during make-outs and late night confessions was a whole new field for them. 

And they were still getting used to it. Getting used to Damian's hand instinctively pressing against the small of her back when they flirted in the kitchen, getting used to Raven's fascination with running her hands through his hair as he checked on her patrol wounds, getting used to the unfamiliarity of _asking_ to be kissed, getting used to the shock of that request being accepted.

Now, he hadn't particularly asked this time, but why else would he willingly advocate for Jaime's excessively long movie choice, if not to sneak a bit of kisses under the cover of dark?

As the movie theater's voiceover echoed out to turn off all cell phones, Damian sunk into his chair. A hand leisurely perched on his thigh as his girlfriend leaned to the side, pecking the tip of his nose. Her smile was hidden as her lips skipped to just under his ear, kissing the tan skin once before she leaned back in her seat. 

A tiny, teasing, knowing smile started to curl her lips. Damian’s face didn’t move, but the apples of his cheeks darkened a shade. Not enough of a difference for anyone but her to notice in this dimly lit theater, but Raven was the only one who needed to see. 

And by Azar did she love it. 

It wasn’t often she got a chance to see her boyfriend _flustered_ , so she savored the moment, lifting the arm divider and pecking the bridge of his nose next. The corners of his lips twitched up and she spread out her kisses, going from his eyelids to his temple to his brows to that damned cute dimple on his right cheek.

Something blew up and they stopped, the tension in their shoulders immediately slipping away as another car exploded on the screen. Hidden in the audience's cheers, Damian stole a kiss. He pulled away after only a second, grinning at the huff the act caused. 

Pulling her hand up and laying another kiss on her knuckles, Damian pecked the inside of her wrist, savoring her little sighs as she felt the force of his emotions, strong through their bond. 

_Affectionate_. Never in (brightly lit) public, only when they could just be with each other. 

The sound of her popcorn hitting the floor made them look up. Raven’s laugh was soft as he disregarded the snack and hugged her tighter, nuzzling their faces together and bumping their noses. The audience let out a harmony of gasps as something let out a sickening _squish!_ on screen and the mage hummed, “We should be watching, you know.”

Opposite to her words she pecked his lips and ran the pad of her thumb over the dimple on his cheek. Her other thumb traced his bottom lip and Damian kissed the digit, murmuring against her skin, “I know I’ve kissed you at least a thousand times over, but just another ten, please.”

Would _anyone_ believe that _Damian Wayne_ was a secret romantic, let alone a sucker for kisses? Raven grinned at her thought; this stupid movie could wait, “I’ll need at least a hundred.”


	32. First Thing in the Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompt: It’s nice that your voice was the first thing I heard today_

For how alike they were in so many facets of their personalities and backstories, Damian could honestly say that he and Raven were complete opposites when it came to waking up. 

Despite what one may assume, the gothic half-demon was a morning person. Yes, she could stay up all night and power through finding out the end of her latest novel, but she always preferred waking up far before the sun, a mug of tea resting next to her and the sunrise taking place of a lamp. 

He was an absolute night owl. Why wouldn’t he be? Crime was far more intense during the night, robberies were futile if the stories didn’t have a chance to get some money in the registers, and he had drilled it into his mind that there was no need for sleep deprivation if it brought sloppiness. 

No, Damian Wayne stayed up all hours of the night. He didn’t sleep until the early birds were blinking themselves awake and he didn’t rise until that sweet spot where morning was well over but the harsh heat of noon had yet to scorch the city. His internal clock had been flawless for nearly his entire life, until a certain demoness stole his heart. 

One such consequence of that: he often woke up far earlier than he scheduled. 

It was many a time that Damian awoke to her lap under his cheek, her slender fingers running through his hair. Ringless whenever she was in bed, but still mainly occupied with flipping the pages of her paperback as she came to the end of yet another chapter, she was a constant in his mornings. She was quiet when she read; never making a sound unless someone addressed her. 

Damian rarely did, since she was so _loud_ whenever a book captivated her. Usually so stoic, everything about the goth became animated with her imagination captured. He would watch as his girlfriend’s face lit up, her brows furrow as she hastily flipped through the pages, her breath hitching and her violet eyes skimming the words a mile a minute. Sometimes her ankle would shake or she would chew on the ends of her short hair, and a few rare books could make her bend the page at the top corner, flitting the paper back and forth over her thumb.

Throughout their all too brief five months of dating he had watched her read and fall asleep in his bed too many times to count (that’s a lie; in the 22 months and six days since she’d first kissed him, he’d grabbed the book out of her hand and kept her bookmark from falling to the floor precisely 130 times). 

What he wasn’t expecting, what he _never_ expected, was for her to read _to him_. 

So, groggy at the too-bright sun on his face but content at the feel of her nails lightly scratching his scalp, Damian grumbled and buried his face into her lap. He could smell the scent of future rain that the morning brought if he focused, but he was far more interested in his girlfriend’s leisurely ministrations.

He sighed. Through their bond Raven felt that he wasn’t completely awake yet and her hand faltered for just a moment, resuming its motions a long second later. 

As the swordsman teetered the line between being asleep, the flip of a page sounded and Raven bit her lower lip. She rolled it between her teeth and, making up her mind, the demoness read into the air, “No more unpleasantness. As my sister reminds me hundreds of times a day, I must try to think only positive thoughts. That and sleep well at night. Night is when the bad thoughts come to visit.”

He stilled underneath her, his brows relaxing at the soothing steadiness of her voice. Her shoulders sank into the pillows as she resituated the book in her hand. The demoness sighed once, then, “The harbor is visible from my window. Every morning I picture how great it would be to get out of bed, walk down to the waterfront, and fill my lungs with ocean air.” 

Had she not been putting so much attention on him Damian was sure she would’ve glanced out of the window at the ocean not half a mile away. Shifting until the pillow was tucked under his ribs and his cheek was comfortably smushed against her thighs, he creaked his eyes open halfway. 

Grimacing at the light, so harsh compared to how soft Raven was, he hugged her abdomen and accepted that he wouldn’t go back to sleep. Not that he wanted to, give that her low voice was still raspy and her body was so warm. It was… nice. 

Although nice didn’t exactly describe how cozy their little scene was. Languidly tracing random patterns against her skin, the swordsman tilted his chin up as she bent to peck his hairline. Damian decided that this wasn’t just nice, it was _lovely_.

Raven hummed against his temple, her bright eyes flicking to read the words aloud, “If I could do that even once, perhaps then I could begin to understand why the world is as it is.” 

He didn’t know anything about whatever world she was reading this time, but _his_ was remarkably comfortable. 

A pair of seagulls flew beyond the window, their bodies briefly blocking the meager amount of sun as they past. Amethyst eyes glanced from the pale gray clouds to her book and then to her love, a lazy smile curling her lips. 

“Hear the Wind Sing,” She murmured the title quietly into the air.

Damian’s rebuttal was immediate, “I prefer hearing _you_.” 

Her shoulders shook at his words and she let her fingertips walk along his hairline, tender and slow. She skipped down past his eyebrows and the curve of his cheeks, tracing the dip where his dimple sat. An askew smile just barely stretched her face, “Isn’t fiction the nicest thing to read in the morning?”

“I’m sure it is.” Damian pressed his nose just underneath her bellybutton, grinning and pressing his lips to that pale strip of skin just above the top of her shorts. He savored her surprised gasp and admitted, “It’s even nicer that your voice was the first thing I heard today.”

Raven was quiet at that, the fluttering in her chest loud enough through their bond. She opened her mouth as if to say something then paused, deciding against it. She glanced back at her book as a name popped out on the page and opted to ask instead, “Do you know any Elvis lyrics?”

Wordlessly, his olive eyes glanced up at her. A light little laugh escaped her at his look, “The author mentions one of his songs near the end of this paragraph.”

Damian kissed her stomach again, “You’ll sing for me?”

“Maybe,” Raven ran her fingers through his hair again, considering and accepting that she wanted to in less than a second. He cooed as her nails scratched at his scalp and Raven smiled, turning back to the pages, “I just gotta get to the end of this chapter first.”


	33. Demon Acquisition III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompt 55: You’ll eventually fall in love with me, mark my words._

He was still standing watch by the time dawn broke. 

Raven lazily ran her tongue over her teeth as she strolled up next to him. Her eyes casually ran over his form, appraising and appreciative; the swordsman was lit up with the light of the sky’s hellfire, his blood-spattered skin highlighted orange and crimson. It made his olive eyes nearly shine gray and her tongue darted out to wet her lips. 

Damian paid her no mind. His face was stoic, everything about him tense as he surveyed around them. 

They hadn’t _won_ the battle to their standards; Batman was still alive, unfortunately, but most of the Justice League’s strongest had fallen. He spotted three of their bodies from his perch and nodded approvingly. 

The sky let out a stream of hellfire, the magic slowly receding as day broke. His nose scrunched at the sight and his head tilted towards the demoness. 

She ran a tongue over her teeth at his silent question. “The rune’s only good for six hours,” Raven said. A lazy smirk curled onto her lips and she aimed it Damian’s way, “While we demons enjoy a good quick ravaging, you mortals like to really lengthen out your… conquests.”

Raven smiled to herself at the pointed look Damian aimed her way at her phrasing. Not quite giggling, she let the tips of her pointed teeth show as she raised her face to the sky again. After a beat of silence the demoness took in a deep breath through her nose. 

Damian raised a brow and Raven let it out through her mouth, a small puff of fire coming out with it. She swallowed the air in her throat and reached for her collar.

Neither mentioned how Damian watched the move; instead, Raven’s lashes fluttered open and she mused aloud, “There are plenty of other runes, you know.” She turned away from the sky, still feeling its lingering heat and undercurrent of magic that mingled so pleasantly against her skin. Her nails drummed against her pulse, “So many spells and enchantments… maybe even a potion or three that’ll help our goals in the--”

Damian’s brows furrowed as he immediately cut her off, “They are _my_ goals. You may think you’re safe, but don’t ever forget you’re just a tool for them.” At her impish smile, he growled out, “Nothing more.”

“I don’t know about _that_ ,” Raven mused. She lazily ran the pads of her fingers under her collar, where a particularly rough bite mark had yet to heal. A pale thumb pulled aside the fabric, showcasing the still-red skin for the world to see. 

Damian glared at her and diverted his attention elsewhere, his face scrunching in annoyance at the (rather blissful) memory of how she’d gotten the mark. Olive eyes glanced up to her face as she leaned her elbow against his shoulder, taunting, “In fact, I’d wager that you rather enjoy my company. So much more than you’ll ever let on.”

He roughly shrugged her hand off his person, stubbornly going back to counting the bodies, “I didn’t offer my soul for your commentary, Demon.” 

Raven snickered at his words. She ran a hand through her hair and lazily watched him for a few long seconds, the impulsive words slipping out confidently, “You’ll fall in love with me eventually, mark my words.”

“I’ll never.” His words were spat out, hostile but a half second too quick.

“Of course, _Syd Damian_.” Sly and impish, she curled up against him again. He went still as her lips touched just below his ear, “But, whether or not you admit your love we shall still… celebrate tonight?” 

He rolled his jaw. Giggling at his tensing (and it _was_ tensing, because Damian Ra’s al Ghul would _never_ shiver when his lover’s lips brushed against his ear), she added, “It’s not everyday one destroys over half of the world’s superhero force.” Her amethyst eyes glinted near crimson in the shadows and Damian sucked in a breath. Damn this infernal demon…

Electing to ignore her, he turned his attention back to the sliver of sky, still roiling like magma under the light of dawn. Pale fingers gripped his chin and aimed his stare back to her. He sneered and Raven leaned up on her toes to kiss him. 

His arm snaked around her waist and the swordsman’s stomach twisted at how quickly, how _fervently_ he kissed her back. Raven’s lips threatened to curl into a smirk, but she was far too focused on kissing him properly.

He bit her bottom lips and her hands fisted in his hair. Raven tugged when he bit her again, pulling away half an inch to snicker into the impossibly small space between them. Damian quieted her with another kiss. _Damn this demon._

Damn her back to the Hell she came from.


	34. Amnesia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Day 1 of DamiRae Week 2019: Amnesia._ Additional prompts: _“You did all of this for me?” / Who kisses the inside of their partner’s palm before reassuring them everything is going to be okay? / “Screw you”_

He woke up groggily, squinting at the way-too-bright fluorescent lights above him and grimacing at the sickly scent of a hospital room all around him. Damian raised a hand to his temple, a sound rising in his throat as he felt the stretch of his stitches. A quiet voice admonished from his side, “Hey, don’t pull them out.”

Damian froze at the sound, his eyes snapping open and his head whipping to face them. He hissed at the twinge of pain and tensed as a warm hand touched his wrist, his eyes flicking up to some mystery girl’s face.

He sneered at her, “Who the hell are you?”

Her face stayed stoic, but her lips twitched at his question. She practically sighed out his name, “Damian…”

“Where am I and how do you know my name?”

She closed her eyes as his wave of hostility washed over her, rolling her jaw once to calm herself down. An exhausted amethyst gaze met his irate olive one and she simply reminded, “I’m Raven.” The empath aimed a half smile his way, her worried eyes flitting over his injuries and settling on the fresh bandages that wrapped around his forehead. She pointed at his forearm, “Can I check your IV?”

His dark eyes narrowed for a second then he nodded, carefully considering her as she took care of him. A cloud of black engulfed a jar of cotton balls and a pack of sterile wipes, lifting them from the cabinets and floating them over to the cot. Raven glanced at his face once and then set about her work, her mind racing as she waited for his inevitable interrogation. 

She slid off her rings and tucked her hair behind her ears, trying to keep a straight face as her mind ran a mile a minute. Most of her thoughts centered around just how bad his memory was at this point.

These last hours had been agonizing; seconds took minutes to pass when all she could do was twiddle her thumbs and wait for him to wake up. His tests had came back positive enough so his memories should return _eventually_ , but for now? It was bound to be his introduction to the titans all over again. All the closed off secrecy, all the untrusting tension, all the prodding to get him to slowly break out of his shell. But, vain as it was, the worst part to this whole situation was that he didn’t remember _her_.

Her fingers trembled for half a second before she calmed herself again. Still, even in his wounded state, Damian noted the brief crackles of magic on her fingertips. 

His jaw rolled and her magic slid between his fingers, stopping his fists from forming before he ripped any more wounds back open. Raven silently met his gaze again and he growled out, “You have powers.”

“I do.”

“That’s black magic.” 

Raven stayed quiet at his accusatory tone and his glare harshened, “You’re… a demon?” He squinted at her and sat up the best he could, his head still feeling as if it were stuffed with cotton and his wobbly sense of balance affecting him with every movement.

“Don’t agitate your wounds too much.” Something was _off_ about her. And it wasn’t the demonic presence that she brought; no, this didn’t feel right between them. Damian’s bleary mind could recognize that his anger at this wasn’t _that_ unnatural, but her closedoffedness with _him_ absolutely was. 

Still, she was a (presumably evil) demon in his (very vulnerable) presence, “Screw you.”

Raven blinked, unfazed. “I know.”

She weakly shrugged when her non-answer was only met with a glare. Damian shifted in the starched sheets again, his mind on how all the black she wore made her stand out against the pristine whiteness of the hospital. His eyes glanced back down at the arms, trailing the tube that led to his IV. Just past that he spotted an open hamper and the blood soaked remains of his uniform; Raven didn’t react to how his brows furrowed again, her attention all on checking how alert he was, how often he had to forcibly blink to refocus his eyes, what angle he shifted to alleviate some of his pain as he looked around.

Damian’s thumb twitched, something wasn’t adding up. “So you're a _demon_ and you did all of this,” His bandaged hand stiffly gestured around the room, “For me?”

“Of course.”

“But you’re a demon.”

He was starting to sound like a broken record. A far cry from the no-nonsense, get all the facts as quickly and thoroughly as possible, impatient for any kind of dawdling Damian she knew. Still, the full extent of his head injury wasn't known just yet, so she continued the conversation as if nothing was amiss.

Satisfied that his bandages were secure and that her magic wasn’t too obvious, she brought her hand back into her lap, rubbing her thumbs together. Damian glanced down at the movement, his brows furrowing. Pale fingers felt unnaturally bare without any rings, but why?

Raven pitched forward, “I’m also human. And your friend.”

He snorted, derisive at the idea, “My _friend_?”

“And your teammate, and your healer, and just,” She let out a sigh, her face softening as she wiped away some of the damp hair that clung to his forehead. His nose scrunched up and she briefly wondered if he’d hit her arm away. But he simply let her touch him and Raven gave him a timid half-smile, feeling his confusion through their bond, “I’m just someone who wants to know that you’re safe.”

She smiled again, the widest she’d done so since he woke. Damian narrowed his eyes at the way his stomach twisted at the sight, wondering if it was a result of her powers. 

If Raven could read his thoughts, he didn’t know and she made no indication that she had. Instead, she grabbed his hand, “It took you a _long_ while to finally trust me so I don’t expect you to do so now, but I _do_ care about you.” Her thumb rubbed against his knuckles and he hesitated. 

The demoness’ eyes closed for a moment and she visibly made up her mind, bringing his hand up and kissing his split knuckles. Damian blinked owlishly at her, stunned and worried at the way that knot in his stomach worsened until he felt it in thudding his chest. Raven grinned at that and pecked the inside of his palm, “And _because_ I care, I know that you hate empty promises.”

She pecked his skin again, feeling his pulse, “But everything’s gonna go back to normal and you’ll realize that everything’s fine. I promise.”

Damian thickly swallowed, the words escaping before he could even really think about them, “I believe you.” 

Raven didn’t smile, she _beamed_. Her shoulders shook as she held back her relieved laughter and she squeezed his hand, feeling the confusing tangle of his emotions through their bond, “You usually do.”


	35. Demon Acquisition IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Day 5 of DamiRae Week 2019: Locked In._ Additional prompts: _“I’m not jealous.”_ & _“I bought you a bottle of my cologne/perfume so whenever you miss me you can just spray it on something and it’ll be like I’m there.”_

Damian was the picture of confidence as he looked over his carefully crafted plans; every potential misstep accounted for, every contingency implemented, every second of the next nine days mapped out to the dot.

Raven thought him a control freak, but it was necessary. Neither demon nor human alike could just waltz in and steal some of Trigon’s most meticulously guarded runes. The demoness he’d chained his soul to could probably swipe some of the more powerful of his plague-bringing potions without a hitch, but he had to be sure. Although, she should’ve been back by now.

Olive eyes glanced at the clock and then the dark sky, noting the sunrise was only a few scant hours away. The air in the room shifted and he stifled an annoyed sigh. Think of the devil and she shall appear…

Raven didn’t approach him and he didn’t turn around, but his head tilted at the sound of glasses clinking together. “Hey, Damian,” She sounded tired but relieved; the mission must have been a success. That familiar press of her powers filled the air again and all six tonics landed on the table, “Got those potions you wanted.”

The swordsman turned to look at her, taking in the still smouldering ends of her shawl and the way she ran her fingers through her hair, shaking out the ashes.

“Father’s bound to notice in a few hours,” She lazily mused to herself. Her amethyst gaze fell on Damian, “But I suppose that’s what you want?”

“My plans are my own, Demon,” His warning didn’t have as much bite as usual, so Raven decided now was the time.

“Here, then.”

Damian raised a brow as she tossed him a glass bottle, catching the tiny thing but keeping it at arm’s length. His eyes narrowed at the all-too-familiar scent that emanated off of it, taking a brief second to observe how it was corked by a dark red pyrope, bits of the gem used to accentuated the feather engravings and sparkle against the inky liquid within.

“With your plans and keeping Trigon occupied I’ll be gone a few days, so just spray it on something whenever you miss me,” Her fangs poked out as he glared at her teasing. Turning back to the table and silently tracing her future route back through Hell, she shrugged one shoulder, “It’ll be like I’m there with you.”

He snorted and simply placed the tiny bottle on the table, standing until they were shoulder to shoulder. Calculating their next plan of attack as he watched how the runes twitched on the table, Damian rolled his jaw, “I’ll treasure having some peace and quiet with you finally gone.”

“Aw, don’t be like that.” Raven smirked as she turned to look at him, practically purring the words off her lips, “It’s okay to be jealous.”

His brows jumped a millimeter at her assumption and he finally met her gaze, incredulous, “I’m not jealous of Hell having to deal with you. Grateful for the peace, if anything.”

“Oh?” She curled a finger and the bottle of perfume was engulfed in her power, hovering in front of her. “You’re _sure_ you won’t mind not having all my attention for the next few days?”

“I thought you were the least narcissistic of Trigon’s mistakes.”

She laughed at his words, languidly reaching up and touching her palm to his cheek. Raven nudged Damian’s face her way, her smirk widening at the thin cracks of emotion that shone through him. The demoness levitated an inch in the air, curling not quite close enough to kiss his cheek.

Raven drawled, “Infuriating as you can be, I know I’ll miss you, _Syd Damian_.”

He sneered at her, shifting out of her grasp, “Are you expecting me to say the same?”

“I am.”

“And why is that? We both know you’ve been nothing but a thorn in my side for as long as you’ve been here.”

“Because you’re locked in.”

He raised a brow and turned to her fully, “We both have missions that start tomorrow, Demon. I’m free to leave whenever I please.”

She laughed, poking the dip of his collar. Raven’s fingertips fiddled with the skin over his pulse, graced with a particularly rough scar, and she slunk closer, pressing a lazy kiss to the underside of his jaw. She tapped right above his heart, “You’re locked in alright. Riiiiight here.”

Pale fingers skipped down to press just below his stomach, her smirk turning into a full blown grin at his glare. She’d never _mention_ the flush of embarrassment that just barely darkened the tops of his cheeks, but she sure as hell would savor the sight. Raven tapped him again, “Locked in right here too.”

“Go to Hell, Raven.”

“Oh? That’s not what you were saying last ni–”

He cut her off but didn’t move her away, “Leave. Start your mission and do it right.” Trigon certainly could be distracted for an additional three hours than he planned for, _especially_ with how insufferable she could be.

Raven’s smile widened at their proximity and she kissed his chin, running her thumb over his dimple, exaggerated by his frown. The demoness’ voice was casual, as if they were talking about lunch plans and not the second step towards taking over the world, “And will my welcome back be as satisfying as my going away party?”

He didn’t answer her. Instead, Damian tangled his fingers in her short hair and yanked her up to his face. Raven opened her mouth and he shot forward to steal a kiss, rough and full of reluctant longing. He growled against her lips, “Just don’t take too long.”

Raven snickered and kissed him again. Her nails thrummed over his chest. Teasing at the undercurrent of emotion that seeped out of him, her eyes gleamed red and she hummed out, “Locked in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm continuing this as its own story. It's called _Acquisitions_ and all other updates will be there instead!


	36. Morphine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompt: You asked me whether I had a crush on someone, then cried when I said I did (because I'm crushing on you)._

He was an idiot. 

His condition was stable and hopefully the morphine would keep any pain she couldn’t take away at bay, but he was an _absolute idiot_. Pushing her out of the way and getting beamed with half a car in her place was Jon-levels of impulsive; Raven bit back a sigh as she tried to ignore the Kryptonian’s nervousness from the common room. The team-up was a success but he didn’t have the invincibility to take this kind of damage willy-nilly.

Raven readjusted her spot in the chair before her legs could fall asleep, still carefully keeping watch over him. She was hopeful with the recent shift in his emotions that he’d be waking up soon, but she kept muttering about his haphazard idiocy under her breath. 

Her hands kept flicking over everything; lifting his lids to check his eyes, prodding to ensure his IV was correct (even though it’d been perfectly in place the last four checks), running her fingertips over the monitors’ as she reread their signs, methodically pulling the bits of frayed edges off the cot’s blankets, fiddling with her rings and the singed ends of her hair when she ran out of IVs to occupy her mind with. 

Sitting directly across from her, Jason wasn’t too concerned. No, with an arm slung over his chair and one boot resting on the cot, his hoodless face was calm as he alternated between checking his phone and stealing glances at his unconscious brother’s face. 

He ran a glove through his hair as a message came in, a relieved sound coming from the back of his throat. Raven glanced his way, “Oracle received everything?”

“Yep.” Red Hood slid his phone back in his pocket and reclined in his seat until it balanced in the air, crossing his legs as they set on the blankets. Raven rolled her eyes and shooed his boots off the cot with a flick of magic. Snorting as his chair slammed back down, Jason crossed his arms and glanced at Damian’s face again, “Now all we need is for baby bat to wake up and I can get outta here.”

She hummed at that, biting back a “Think of the devil” as Damian’s nose twitched.

Raven hurried to lean over him, holding down his hand so he couldn’t accidentally pry the IV loose as he shifted again, “Damian?”

His chest heaved as he took in a deep breath, groggily grumbling as he was regretfully pulled back into consciousness. It took him a minute, but eventually olive eyes creaked open and Damian squinted at the light. He closed them again as the mage wiped his lashes clean, a lopsided grin forming when Raven pulled back and the fluorescence haloed her head. 

The swordsman tried to let out a giddy laugh and hissed at the pressure against his ribs. Raven put a hand to his side, her brows jumping nearly to her hairline as he drawled out, “Heeeey.” 

The mystic paused, her head tilting to the side. Jason snickered at the sight of _Damian_ being anything but his uptight, sober self and brushed aside the pointed look Raven aimed his way from the corner of her eyes. He decided to wait a bit longer before leaving; this was shaping up to be _quite_ entertaining. 

The empath took a calming breath, trying not to react to the equal parts happiness and confusion that was radiating off him. Her eyes were concerned as she got his attention --even though a tiny part of her knew full well that she’d have it the whole time he was in this state, “Damian.”

His brows furrowed and he reached for her, “Why are there three of you?”

“That might be the concussion talking,” Raven hummed out. Her hand angled his face up to check his eyes again, “Sorry if I’m a blurry mess.” 

“Don’t worry, _Hiyati_ ,” The swordsman’s head lolled as he relaxed against the pillows, leaning his cheek into her palm. “Even blurry Raven is too pretty to be a mess.”

She felt Jason’s sharp spike of amusement before she heard his bark of laughter and flushed. Raven cleared her throat as she pulled her hands away, the _clink!_ on her fingers bringing Damian’s gaze to the jewelry. 

“Oh!” He sloppily pointed at her hands, “Can I see?”

The demoness blinked once and, deciding that it couldn’t hurt to indulge him and his intoxicated curiosity, gave him her left hand. Still _far_ too out of it to conceal his features, Damian ogled at the silver and onyx that graced each of her fingers. He almost let go as he leisurely turned to stare at her. His pupils wide, he squeezed the tips of her fingers and Raven’s brows jumped to her hairline as he pouted (actually _pouted!_ Kory must've ordered some strong morphine) and sadly brought her hand up to his face again. 

Damian rubbed his thumb against the braided obsidian ring that she rarely took off, dejectedly sighing out, “You’re married?”

“No.” She tried to keep her face stoic as her teammate perked up at the news. 

“Then do you…” He hesitated in that faux ‘the idea _juuuust_ came to me, honest!’ sort of way only inebriated people could believe was believable, “Do you have a crush on anyone?”

Jason casually laced his fingers over his stomach and lounged in his seat, wishing he had a bucket of popcorn. Mindlessly, he pondered the ethics of calling Alfred so he could hear the clusterfuck alongside him and whether or not that was something the butler would approve, but ultimately decided against it. 

Raven ignored the anti-hero’s amusement that danced over her empathy, sheepishly tucking a piece of hair behind her ear as she shrugged Damian’s way. She decided he deserved the truth, especially in this state. The mystic bit the inside of her cheek, hesitating for just a second, “I do, actually.” 

“Oh…” 

Her head tilted at the bursts of sadness and amusement that mixed into her empathy, knowing which of the two Bats she could realistically question on their emotions, “I-- Damian?”

He sniffled and brought her palm back up to cup his face. Tenderly gazing up at her, the ex-assassin had that same despondent look that Titus wore whenever they left to go on missions without him. Raven felt her heart tumble end over end; she’d never seen Damian _this_ open before, yet alone to the point of tears. If he noticed their audience's snickering he didn’t seem to care, especially not with the forlorn, heartbroken way he _whined_ (what in Azar’s name was going on? Should he be on a smaller dose?) out, “I was hoping you didn’t have a crush on anyone.”

At the awfulness that was teenage confessions opened up into the room Jason, shit-stirrer that he was, couldn’t help but pipe up, “But if she didn’t have a crush on _anyone_ she couldn’t have a crush on _you_.”

Raven let out a quiet, horrified little sound at him pointing out the obvious and at her patient perking up at the idea, not knowing if she could _lie_ to Damian. Confused, bright, hopeful, somewhat glassy olive eyes settled on her and her lips twitched. Scratch that, there was _no way_ she could lie to him; not about _this_ and not when he was in this state. 

So instead, she rationalized that placating him would be enough for now. 

Putting a hand to his forehead, Raven chanced running her fingers through his hair. He let out a lovestruck coo and her words came out a tinge more blunt than she anticipated, “Go back to sleep.” 

Jason let his head fall back, laughing and declaring them “Idiots” to the ceiling. 

Leisurely trailing her hand down to cup his cheek again, the goth ran her thumb over his cheek and traced the shell of his ear. Her shoulders relaxed as Damian’s lethargy sunk into her mind, glad that he wasn’t too bothered with his confessions and still-fractured bones. Damian sunk into her touch, sighing as he started slipping back to sleep. Raven kept rubbing soothing circles under his ear as his breathing evening out and a fond smile curled her lips, her calm exterior hiding just how much she was screaming inside at what Damian had all but admitted. 

Once he was asleep, the mystic let herself enjoy a few more seconds of ease before she realized exactly what she was doing. Catching herself, she pulled her hand away and snapped her head to the other side of the cot, worried about how much of that Jason saw. Raven flushed as the Bat merely raised a brow at her. 

Running a tongue over his teeth, Jason smirked and held up his phone, “Alfie wants to know if you’d like to stay over for the holidays?”

She shifted in her seat. His emotions were saying that Alfred’s request was serious so she nodded, but her eyes narrowed suspiciously when all her answer brought was the man innocently texting his grandfather back. Raven crossed her arms, disbelief slipping into her voice, “No teasing?”

Green eyes shot up to her face. “You’re the girlfriend I hardly know. I’m gonna mock the shit outta _him_ ,” Jason jerked a thumb his brother’s way, his grin wide and all-knowing, “But you’re safe. For now.”

The Titan let out a quiet harrumph at that, not quite sure how to respond. She watched as the anti-hero finished sending out his message and stood, cracking his neck as he pulled his leather jacket back on. The dark pine ring of his eyes were muted as he considered her for a moment. Jason’s gaze flicked between the two teens and he aimed an honest-to-Azar _smile_ her way.

It brought some hope that Damian’s actions weren’t just from the morphine, but she was still hesitant. There was mischief on Jason’s face as he drawled out, “D’you know what _hiyati_ means?”

Raven’s lips pursed. She shook her head. Jason smirked and tucked his hands into his jacket’s pockets. He kept glimpsing at his tiny, only-partially-homicidal brother and Raven couldn’t tell how much of this was him being genuine as he advised, “You should look it up sometime.”

Chuckling, Red Hood slipped his helmet back on and started towards the door. He casually tossed over his shoulder, “Later, Birdie. Let Lil’ D know all the Bats’re gonna know about this by the time he’s up.”

Unsure what to say, indigo eyes flicked from Damian’s face to the closing door and back again. As the quiet of Jason’s aura leaving filled the room she leaned back in her chair and tucked her legs up underneath her, alternating between fiddling with her rings and watching Damian as he rested. The braided obsidian on her ring finger kept reminding her of his pout and Raven sat up, taking a few minutes to read and reread the monitors to keep herself occupied. Jason’s words kept chipping at the edges of her brain and the demoness rested against the side of the cot. 

Making up her mind at the steady rise and fall of Damian’s chest, the goth pulled out her phone. Her face fell at the sheer amount of new messages that Dick and Kory (but mainly Kory) were sending her, all built from the gossip Jason must’ve sent out to the adults’ group chat.

Shaking her head and hoping that Damian would be awake when the rest of the team found out about the rumor, she quickly typed ‘hiyati in english’ into the search bar. With all the machines the med-bay’s reception wasn’t the best, but a few long seconds later her eyes widened as the translation popped up. 

Raven glanced at the swordsman again and smiled down at herself.


	37. Alfred Knows Best

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Prompt: An angst riddled Damian asking Alfred for advice_

Damian had actually paced a hole in the floor. 

Granted, it was technically ten holes for each of his strides between the bed and the doorframe rather than an actual rut, but the fact still stood that the floor was no longer even. 

It had been going on since he’d arrived back home, only broken up by patrol, training, and Alfred knocking on his door with a tray of food. Every so often his steps would stop and his face scrunched up in a traitorous thought of heading back to the Titans early, then he simply shook the idea away and resumed his tread. Luckily, the insulation throughout the Manor ensured that no one was distrubed by his hours of brooding. 

Sighing, Damian sat on the edge of his bed and put his head in his hands. For the first time in a few hours, he spoke, “I just don’t know what’s going on, Alfred.”

He didn’t think he’d get a response, but the half-hearted chitter from the bed was close enough to a proper British tut. Rolling his eyes, Robin ran a hand through his hair, frustrated beyond words. He scratched at his nape, “I’m in _Gotham!_ There are villains to catch and I need to train more. And Todd comes over tomorrow, so I need a place to avoid him.” 

Leaning back to rest his hip against the drawer, Damian ran a hand over his face, “Not to mention Cassandra and Drake are supposed to be helping on patrol Wednesday.” He let out a groan, annoyed at how _nothing_ was working. 

He tossed his hands up in the air, “I did what Grayson said; I’m keeping myself busy and all, but still the only thing I can think about is _her_.”

As if on cue, a burst of wind blew through the trees outside, their leaves laying a shadow over his bedroom window. Damian tensed, half expecting the universe to send a raven just outside his room, but nothing came. 

He wanted to scold himself for being so hopeful that the demoness would somehow be near. Olive eyes closed and Damian stared down at the floor. Kory had noticed the tension between him and Raven a few days earlier and had given her own brand of advice; the idea of confronting Raven rather than avoiding her was a ridiculous one, but he had to admit it _did_ sound nice right about now. 

Damian raised his head and looked at the bed. Alfred stared back at him, waiting for him to speak. The Bat’s mouth opened, closed. Keep busy, actually talk to Raven about this… weirdness between them, hinting to the empath the reason why he’d been so distant lately. The choices flew through his mind back and forth, over and over again. What he could do, what he should do, what he desperately wanted to do. 

After a minute of heavy silence the swordsman groaned. “I just--” He cut himself off again, sighing. Damian let his shoulders slump, “Alfred, what do I _do?”_

Instead of revealing the advice the boy oh-so-desperately needed, the cat merely let out a yawn, his tongue flicking out to wet his nose as he stood. His back arched and he stretched his arms, careful not to let his claws out as he clambered around for a comfy place to rest. 

Damian let out a huff as he crossed his arms and looked down at his audience. Titus was still listening, if his raised ear was any indication, but the dog was trying his damndest to sleep. Drool was already on the pillow under his head and his tail wagged with Damian’s attention on him, but not much else. Rousing awake when Alfred jumped onto her back, BatCow languidly raised her head to blink at him. Her big brown eyes were warm from her nap and the bovine carefully stretched her limbs, careful to not disturb the cat on her shoulder. 

Damian narrowed his eyes at his pets, unsurprised. BatCow and Titus were notoriously _horrid_ listeners outside of crime-fighting, but he expected better of Alfred.

Said cat only laid his chin on the crown of BatCow’s head, his whiskers twitching as her ear flapped. His gold eyes were shiny as he stared at Damian, wondering _when_ the ranting would end and he’d finally get a chance for a proper catnap.

Damian rolled his eyes. A breath left him and he made up his mind. Leaning down, he fixed the blankets around his pets and set the thermostat to their preferred temperature, slipping out the door a minute later.

If _that_ Alfred couldn’t give him answers, maybe the other one could.


End file.
